Bio: Attorney
and Economist

Americans are infuriated with official Washington. The remarkable results of the 2010 primary elections attest to their dissatisfaction. Reliable nationwide polls consistently reveal that Americans distrust Congress and the Administration, they disapprove of incumbents, and they want decisive change. The likely result: Democrats in Congress will be weaker, Republicans stronger and more rigid and deadlock in Washington will continue. On top of this political shift to the right and strong anti-incumbent and anti-establishment sentiments, the 2012 presidential race has already begun; incumbent Democrats and the president are running scared and large individual and corporate contributors are looking for Republican winners. However, as Republicans move further to the uncompromising right, most Americans – 72 percent in a recent New York Times/CBS poll – do not think Republicans in Congress have a clear plan for solving the nation’s problems. None of these developments promises to boost the nation’s flagging economy but rather to render Washington even more dysfunctional than it already is – further degenerating and becoming more bitter, indeed grim. Expect two years of a do-nothing Congress.

Much of this political unrest has coalesced around the Tea Party banner. Created with the backing of conservative organizations and business interests, the Tea Party movement has emerged as the only viable alternative vehicle to offer a rallying platform for dissatisfied citizens to assemble and voice their grievances.

What is missing from most discussions of this political tsunami is the underlying source of its energy. What drives it? Americans are hurting, they are squeezed financially. Between 2000 and 2009, the inflation-adjusted income of the median household fell 4.8 percent, the worst drop in at least half a century. And for many there is no income – more than 70 percent of Americans know someone who has lost a job. College graduates cannot find jobs. Americans are losing purchasing power and their net worth is falling. The value of their homes is shrinking, their retirements are insecure. Medical and educational costs are rising faster than the cost of living index. In 2009, 50.7 million Americans, 16.7 percent of the population, were without health insurance – the highest since this record has been kept. Over 900,000 home foreclosures have occurred so far this year. In August alone, 95,364 homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure, a 25 percent increase over August 2009. Last year, there was an 11.6 percent increase in families consolidating and moving in together. One in eight Americans receives food stamps. The Census Bureau reports that, in 2009, 43.6 million Americans were living below the poverty line – the highest number in 51 years.

The recent economic damage to the American economy has been enormous and has left permanent scars. Main Street America – the real economy – has realized few of the benefits of massive federal outlays. However the undue influence of Wall Street on both the Administration and the Congress persists. Americans believe Washington is coddling Wall Street and that the financial world is rigged in its favor. Aided by nearly free money, cheap dollars, the too-big-to-fail guarantees, Wall Street has quickly regained its liquidity and dominant firms have taken handsome profits and profligate bonuses. But their good fortunes are a far cry from the real economy – plagued by persistently high unemployment, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, shrinking state and local budgets, and weakened consumer spending. Small and new businesses – typically the engines of growth – falter and fail as they bear the brunt of credit contraction.

Global competition and global pressures have intensified. The world’s economic balance of power is shifting from West to East and from a longstanding concert of Western powers to the Group of 20. Foreigners buy our assets. Multinationals send U.S. jobs and investment cash to other nations. The nation’s competitive advantage in the world economy erodes. Financialization and the reckless activities of Wall Street have replaced tangible, exportable products as the nation’s most profitable economic output.

The lives, the careers and the opportunities that Americans have come to expect are in jeopardy. The majority of them now believe the American dream will not be there for their children. They get it. The country is on the wrong track.

Washington fails to grasp the depth of this economic anxiety and the frustration with an entrenched political elite. This is the real source of the growing unrest. Audacious change has given way to business-as-usual in Washington. An attitude of Washington-knows-best has crowded out the voice of the people and transparency.

Americans are waking up. The nation has lost its way. Other nations – Japan, Italy, Holland and Belgium – have become all but ungovernable and the United States is teetering on the brink. This pending crisis of ungovernability – along with the nation’s economic decline – far exceeds the expressed concerns of the Tea Party movement, which targets the size and cost of government. Americans in general see their world and their prospects for the future unraveling and government is making it worse, not better. They blame Washington – and justifiably so.

Citizens are impatient. They no longer anticipate strong and decisive leadership from the White House. The hope and promise of the Obama Administration have dissipated. Americans view Congress as dysfunctional and detached from mainstream America. Washington has degenerated into acrimony, gridlock and the self-serving, enriching maneuvers of those in power.

The citizen unrest and unexpected voting behavior seems erratic – especially that seen in the eight Republican primary upsets. Voters are desperate, driven by frustration, uncertainty and confusion. Their government has let them down. Political turmoil and polarization grow. Voting solidarity and party purity rule the Congressional day. Few are willing to cross the political aisle to accomplish anything and those who do are demonized. Filibusters are at record levels. The appointments of Elizabeth Warren to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, of multiple federal judges and of three Federal Reserve board members have been blocked for purely ideological reasons. Congress is in near paralysis.

Yet the nation’s most important issues and fundamental problems remain unresolved and each year the list is compounded. Energy dependence and its consequences grow. The nation’s deficits and $13 trillion debt – along with the decline of the value of the dollar – further weaken our financial standing in the world and place an immense burden on future generations. Persistent and questionable U.S. foreign military outreach kills and maims our soldiers and continues to bleed our financial resources. Immigration reform appears less and less likely – Democrats want the votes and Republicans want the cheap labor. Gaping income and wealth inequality among segments of American society worsens to disparities not seen since the Gilded Age. The recent financial crisis and its aftermath have been the most severe since the Great Depression. Yet the two parties are engaged in fulltime in-fighting for dominance – brawling over who gets the Washington goodies.

A dangerous, a poisonous mix has paralyzed Washington and that paralysis threatens both our economy and our very republic. The imperative of restoring sanity and comity to Washington and rendering our government wholesome and workable requires the active commitment of every citizen – not only those of the Tea Party. And that commitment is urgent.

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