Why I Don't Feel That Depressed Today

Yeah, last night sucked. But I find myself in almost an eerily good mood today. I think I know a few reasons why. First, I don't think that the Republicans are going to experience long-term success. My previous post detailed why I think the Republican Death Spiral is alive and well, and I will add that I think it could bite them between now and 2012, for instance if they refuse to raise the debt ceiling and therefore cause a global financial meltdown, and it backfires. Could happen. Another reason is that Obama's press conference was pitch-perfect; he has himself perfectly positioned to use the Republicans' inability to compromise against them. Another is that essentially all of the candidates I was really personally invested in won, including Rush Holt, my home Congressman, and Lincoln Chafee, my future governor. (One of my Congressman is still a rocket scientist, the other Congressman is gay, and my governor's name is Linc. Seriously.)

The final reason, I think, is that I remember what this is like. By "this," I mean the business of living under a government that the Republicans control at least part of. And intellectually it's a very easy world to live in: much easier than actually having to wrestle with the difficult choices of governance. Now, that doesn't change the fact that the Republican House is going to inflict major, major suffering on the world over the next two years, which sucks and which I will get vehemently mad at them about when they actually do it. Nor does it change the fact that it will be mildly tricky for Obama to convince people that he is completely hamstrung in the business of governing by the fact that the Republicans took back the House, and if he fails, we could be in trouble. But it's almost just sort of relaxing to know that the politics of the next two years, and figuring out what to think over that time, will be so damn easy. No worrying about, is health care good enough? How about financial reform? And what does Joe Lieberman think? No one will ever care again, because he's irrelevant in the 112th Congress and will lose, badly, in 2012. So, here's to two years of not having our intellectual faculties taxed at all by the day's political events. We might as well enjoy something.

Oh, and also: the most directly effective thing you can do to increase the amount of happiness in the world is to enjoy your life. Never forget that.