No budget? No problem man!

Cool Runnings...Following a 20-month-long Congressional Rastafarian reasoning, Democrats shut down the 111th Congress and eased out of town without passing a budget.  It was probably a good thing for the country, the damage they did was self-contained.  At least for now.  True, they did nothing to stop a tax increase by not considering the extension of the Bush tax cuts.  That is bad, and it is well, cowardly. But think of what else they didn't do.  They didn't go after another trillion dollars.  They didn't take another run at net neutrality and tack on another dozen related taxes and/or penalties.  They didn't do more damage.

Now that doesn't mean that it's an end state with this Congress.  They are going home to campaign, by attacking Republicans.  When they come back, down enough seats to cede control to the same Republicans they've been bashing, who is to say that as a lame duck Congress they don't go wild and pass every manner of nut bar progressive wish list legislation?  They might, out of fear of no other opportunity in the foreseeable future, or even out of spite.

Even so, the Congress that came in with a bang looks like it is going out with a whimper, and for most Americans the last gasp of Democrats allowing taxes to climb in what can hardly be called a recovery, is the final straw.  They did nothing to help their chances in November.  It's quite likely many people just feel some relief that the Congress has shut down for now.  The parting blow of no extension of the Bush tax cuts is just that, a parting blow.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that in January 2009 you would have expected to have had a better Congress if you had simply put a bunch of Rastafarians in charge.  The relaxed attitude and lifestyle might not have accomplished much, but at this point, 'nothing' looks a whole lot better than the something that the country actually got.