Congressional Democrats would be well advised to look inward for the reasons why Coakley may lose the Senatorial race in Massachusetts.
But they won’t.
Most are involved in doing whatever they think necessary to assure their own re-elections.
Their first priority is amassing massive campaign war chests. And corporate America is fertile ground. The medical-profits industry, war profiteers, big oil, financial institutions, and Wall Street investors are doling out huge sums of money to their Congressional surrogates in both political parties.
It is not a stretch to say that Congress is all-Americans: made and sold in the USA.
Let’s just pause for a moment to reconnoiter. Where in the hell are we?

 The disparity between income and wealth is greater now than at any time since the 1920’s.

 Over 10% of working class America is unemployed, and millions more are underemployed.

 An additional 2.4 million foreclosures are expected in 2010

 50% of all bankruptcies are the result of medical debt.

 College tuition has risen to unprecedented levels, and is now unaffordable for many families,

 The courts have granted gigantic corporations relief from meeting their obligations to pension plans. Dreams of security in retirement have been stolen.

 Public resources are being transferred to private, domestic and foreign corporate interests.

 U.S. jobs continue to move offshore, mainly to countries where worker-exploitation is a matter of routine.

 A war[s] that will wind up costing every resident of our nation $10,000 (or more) continues to rob our national treasury, and criminal corporations such as KBR, Halliburton, Blackwater, et al are reaping huge profits for their investors.

 Our infrastructure is deteriorating.

 The debacle began long before Democrats had George Bush to scapegoat (although he and his neoconservative handlers are certainly co-conspirators).

The list is a long one.

Common threads run trough the whole sordid sell out: a) Congress has been at the helm during the three decades that working class America has been under attack; b) the wealthy will have entered the current financial crisis rich and will emerge unscathed; c) only working class Americans will have suffered.

Sadly, it appears that a stain of Stockholm Syndrome has everyday people in its grips. What else would explain why we keep re-electing our abusers?

As George Orwell wrote: "For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance. ... Ignorance is Strength" .

Democrats won’t look inward, and neither will the sociopaths who control the GOP. Just as with most of us, the teabaggers sense something is amiss, but they have picked the wrong target. Big government is not our enemy. After all, we the people are the government! Our enemy is the Congressional cabal that has turned responsive big government into a watering hole for their corporate benefactors. Big government – of, by, and for the people – should be protected and cherished. The first step is to toss a lot of people out of office, and thereafter prohibit any corporate money in politics.

Or we can pick the wrong target and choose to remain in “poverty and ignorance”.

Great comments, Rich. I especially like the George Orwell quote.

As for blowing up the filibuster... if the Dems would be willing to expose the GOP as complete obstructionists, I would say let them filibuster. But I just don't see them doing that. Apparently the Republicans enjoy a majority at 51, but the Dems need 60 to have a majority. And even THAT wasn't good enough to get healthcare passed.