I am quite tired of the word mandate. No one has a mandate. Democracy says that the majority has the mandate (sorry) and that the people who landed on the "wrong" side of the vote need to accept the outcome and work to change the environment down the road. Democracy is checks and balances, negotiations, and reaching across the aisle.

Yes, I have been labeled a snarky, liberal Democrat (Thanks Ralf) but I like where my state is and I like what is happening in government (most of it, and for today). I'm not happy that the Republicans took over the House, but let's see if we can make some headway by compromising and thinking. Like I've said, this liberal state has done very well by me and others... I'd like to know how other states (to my right) are fairing....

As for bankruptcies, I certainly don't factor them into my prices. Let the buyer/lender beware. Foolish spending is foolish. Loaning money or giving credit to a foolish spender is even more foolish.

Throwing money at a problem doesn't work. Propping up industries that don't work isn't always the right answer either. If GM would have shut its doors, bing bang boom, what do you think would have suddenly happened to all the states and the employees around the world that worked for GM. Talk about over a cliff... Maybe softening and lengthening the death (that probably will not happen anytime soon) of GM was a good thing. You (me) would have paid a lot more in unemployment benefits than any amount of bailout, let alone additional bankruptcies. Many times it IS the right decision to go into a deficit to make things better for the future. Did any of you pay for your college while you were going to school, or did you graduate with a little debt.

There are so many chinks and bricks in our economic wall that no one constituency, Representative, Senator, Governor, or President can fix it immediately. I can't wait to see, and hope that it happens, how many jobs the new Republican House makes and how many trillions they cut out of the budget.

Speaking of health care and illegal immigrants. I'm sure that Massachusetts and New England have our fair share of illegals. We do not have the problem of an "open" contiguous border with Mexico, which I believe causes much of the stress to the Southwest and Midwest. We do have a number of crazy, errant, Quebecois and Canadians that come across the border and stay past their welcome. We also have huge communities of Chinese, Brazilian and Central American people who more than likely arrive by plane (unless they migrate through the Bering Strait) and stay illegally.

On the health care side, I was in the emergency room last Wednesday for 5 stitches from my poor old dog. It was late at night, and I can guarantee you that the emergency room was not filled with illegal immigrants (people in Massachusetts can now see physicians and not go to emergency rooms -- thus taking burden and cost out of the once last option emergency rooms). I can't say exactly who they were -- I know my Spanish dialects, and Puerto Rican doesn't count because they are here legally -- but they were speaking English in an "American" dialect. I don't know what the health care in Massachusetts is going to cost the state as the cost burden has moved around, but I do know that it is cheaper. When I find out, I will fill you in because curious minds want to know. Don't you?

On Spending money to save money down the road. Massachusetts just built a large housing complex for homeless veterans with state and US grants. These people will be taken out of the homeless shelters and given a much better place to stand. And I totally believe these people should be at the front of the line when it comes to care. They fought for our country. So here is another form of deficit spending (we deficit spend for the "wars", why not people") that will make us better in the long run.

Thoughts?