Three Cheers

To the new Congress. It is an avocational disease of political bloggers to focus on the bad things, but once in a while it is also very important to celebrate the good things. Today is one such day.

Have you noticed all the things that the new Congress has already achieved? The new federal minimum wage? The adult and serious inquiry into domestic wiretapping? And then overhauling the congressional pages program! And the ethics rules!! And the rolling back of subsidies to the oil industry!!!

These matter in at least two ways. One is their obvious importance as changes in policies, even if the changes sometimes aren't that large. The other one is their emotional, moral and ethical importance in stating that this country is not going to continue being run as nothing but a fundamentalist corporatist haven. Or so I hope.