Not so depressed now.
Friends at coffee pointed out that the Tea Party will control the House of Representatives for three more years. The expenses of government will not be cut but they may be held in check. Three years of no government growth is a blessing I can not ignore.
Whether the Tea Party can still be influencial in the 2012 election remains a fantasy for me, but not an impossibility. The Tea Party is a unique flowering of the genius of America, the first such civil genius in history... but its endurance remains to be tested.