The Triumph of Political Derangement

"There are many familiar symbols that represent the United States of America. There is the flag, of course. There is the strange eye above the unfinished pyramid on the back of the dollar bill. There are the myriad iconic buildings in Washington as familiar to us as the back of our hands.

"Well, the moment has arrived to add a new symbol to the list, one that represents the sad state of our national politics, the ridicul­ous media coverage of same, and the deranged condition the American people find themselves in today. I suggest Janus, the ancient two-headed Roman god whose faces look both forward and backward simultaneously. In representing the American peo­ple, Janus would be a perfect depiction of a person who wants two things at once, and hasn't yet figured out how to do it.

"To wit: every available scrap of poll data indicates that a large majority of Americans are stoutly opposed to the Ryan plan that seeks to end Medicare...and every scrap of poll data also indicates that a majority of Americans are dead-set against raising the debt-limit ceiling.

"Who the what the where the when the why the hell is that?"