Living in Alternate Realities

The late science fiction writer Roger Zelazny created a series of novels about Amber, which is true reality. Our earthly human reality is simply a parallel reality. The author posited that when we lose something in our reality, it is simply that someone in Amber needed it and took to the true reality. Sometimes they even returned it, that's when you find what you thought you lost.

When I see Congressional Republicans pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment while denying an extension of payroll tax relief, as they did yesterday, I have to assume that I do not live in the same reality as these folks. They campaigned in 2010 on working to fix the economy and to create jobs. Since taking control of the House (and through their intransigence, the entire legislative process), they have done nothing but make things worse. The GOP has one mode of operation now: give us what we want or we will through sand in the gears of government. They are not legislators, they are terrorists.

I can only conclude that we live in alternate realities. Where I live, real people suffer as a consequence of the GOP's actions. Where the GOP live is in Ayn Rand's fantasy world where the individual matters more than the community. Poll after poll shows the majority of Americans oppose most of the Republican agenda, yet GOP leaders claim a mandate for their "help the rich so they might help the rest of us" policies. Real people don't mean much when you bask in the light of ideological purity. Sounds kinda Soviet to me.