It's the Land of the Free, But Sometimes You Have to be Brave to Live Here

When I think about my relationship with America, I feel like a battered wife: Yeah, he knocks me around a lot, but boy, he sure can dance. ~ Sarah Vowell

Gah. I should have stayed in bed today.

First, the Republicans took the House. This is, apparently, a signal to the White House that it has been too slow to act, that government is too big, that too much money is spent to do too little.

I can totally see how things are going to get done now. On the cheap, of course.

[Aside: Yesterday I gave the kids a little "exercise your right to vote" lecture, illustrating it with a hypothetical vote regarding family vacations where everyone had a say but only The Husband and I registered our destination of choice, with the result that we ended up in the middle of nowhere. "But I don't want to have a vacation in the middle of nowhere!" protested The Girl. "Ah," I said, "but if you didn't vote, you don't have the right to complain."

Which means I suppose I don't really have a right to complain here. BUT...my not voting is not my choice. In fact, I'm pretty much my own Tea Party in terms of taxation without representation. So complain I will.]

Second, Minnesota's looking at a recount. Again. Know how long the last one took? 8 months. Know how long it felt? Like a gazillion years. This does not make me happy.

Third, it's annual health insurance enrollment time again. I hate this time of year. It makes me very grouchy. It makes me even grouchier when the benefits presenter looks up at the screen and says, "of course, these items are due to the health care bill that just passed, and who knows what is going to happen to that now, so this might all go away."

[Deep breath]

I have such an ambivalent relationship with America. Most days I love it - Netflix, Target, Chipotle, higher temperatures, interstates, a better Thanksgiving (even if less logistically appropriate - yeah, I said it) - but there are days when she sorely tries my patience.

Like today.