Why The Mid-Terms Are Overhyped

Will next Tuesday's mid-term elections mark the beginning of the end of politics and government as we have known it? Or will the elections be just another a bump in a long road littered with flash-in-the-pan causes and one-hit wonders?

If history is any guide, the answer is yes and no.

Yes because an election held amidst the lingering aftershocks of a deep economic recession and an unbridled anger at Washington's perceived failures as represented by the Tea Party is bound to have some consequences.

No because while many outsiders will be elected, most will not, the vast majority of incumbents will return to Washington because voters tend to be pissed at Congress in general and not at the guy who gets their roads paved and alley lights repaired.

The bottom line is that the 112th Congress will look very similar to the 111th and sound very similar with smug Republican leaders saying that they will use any new-gained majorities to continue their obstructionist ways.

Which makes one wonder what all of the fireworks over the last several months have been all about.