It is time to decide, and I choose apathy.

Compromise and the possibility of dissent are now dead. Gone and buried. I am not sure when they perished, and the cause is as mysterious as the date.

It might have been when President Bush, the 2nd, declared "you're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." At the time people felt he was talking to foreign leaders, a thinly veiled threat.  It turns out he was actually talking to anyone who wanted to explore options other than the heavy handed sturm und drang he was promoting.

I am sure that was more of the epitaph than the cause, though. It had been moribund and in the throes of death for a while before that. People speak reverently of Reagan and Tip O'Neill coming together for the good of the country, hammering out the differences, and shaking hands and walking away happy.

Of course the compromise was to hand a lot of tax breaks to people who make a lot of money, and strip away most of the provisions for deductions of interest on mortgage payments. So, the compromise was not that conducive to a vibrant middle class. But, the theory was people who were wealthy would find all of the extra money from the obscene tax breaks embarrassing and give the money to the poor, whose numbers would be climbing, thanks to the compromise of these political giants.

And, there was not really a lot of progress under Bill Clinton. He did manage to raise the tax rate on the very wealthy, and reduce it slightly on the very poor. But, his fuel tax was tremendously burdensome on the people whose income depends on the movement of goods. Mostly the middle class. Another defeat for those trying to make it from one payday to the next.

Now, we have Godzilla vs. Mothra playing across the landscape. It is often difficult to tell who the hero is, and it varies with whom you ask. But, each has a plan to make the economy stronger, more vibrant, and robust.  And after they are elected they will meet with advisers and members of both parties and make changes to make things better.

But, it will probably not involve making any concessions toward the people who wake up to the sound of an alarm, pour their own coffee, take a lunch and go to work.  But, that is old news, isn't it?