Dangerously Awesome and Frighteningly Inane

All I hear these days is how depressing American politics has become – relentlessly negative, disagreeably personal and so partisan that actual governing has become impossible. I may have said something like that myself. So imagine my pleasure at receiving this message from Organizing for Action, “the grassroots movement built by millions of Americans to pass the agenda we voted for in 2012:” James –

According to our records, here's what we have down for this exact email address (do some people have inexact email addresses?):

• Supporter: James
• High-powered lobbyist: No.
• Currently a Koch brother: No.
• Level of awesome: Dangerously high.
• Suggested action today: Keep on being awesome.

Of course, there was a small price for keeping on being awesome. In my case it was $9, which didn’t strike me as much of an expectation for someone at my level of awesomeness. I didn’t pony up, so I guess I am slightly less awesome than I used to be. But I just wanted you to know there was a time . . .

• Meanwhile, across the aisle the theater of the absurd reached new levels of inanity. On Wednesday House Republicans voted to sue President Obama for shredding the Constitution – our first black president has become a "king". On Thursday the same bunch couldn’t even agree on their own legislation to “ensure the security of our borders.” So they demanded that Obama – whom they had just sued for acting unilaterally – do something “without the need for congressional action.”