If the pundits have it right the Tea Party will run Congress after tomorrow’s election. Maybe not the day after, but soon enough. And if that’s the politics of the majority of voters, it’s almost certain there’ll be a Tea Party president in the White House in 2016.

My reaction? Congratulations!!! They finally did it.

While other Americans sit around twiddling their thumbs and moaning about the state of affairs, Tea Partiers and their billionaire backers, have accomplished what they set out to do.

The federal government will be disemboweled and states will have to go it alone in trying to figure out how to serve their own constituents. Some will fare better than others. It depends upon the talent and intelligence of their politicians, the benevolence of their wealthy citizens, and whether or not Lady Luck is on their side.

Seattle will definitely do better than some.

We’ve got Bill and Melinda Gates, billionaires with heart.

Headquartered here are Starbucks, Costco, Boeing, Amazon and Microsoft. Other tech companies have begun moving into town and more startups are on the verge. Wine tasting is becoming a favorite past time, with wine bars popping up all over the place.

I recently read somewhere that Seattle’s Eastside has the best track record for cardiac rehabilitation in the nation.

Ours is one of the few states to recognize gay marriages.

Marijuana is legal for those 21 and older.

A $15 minimum wage might become reality. 

A couple of suburbs have led the nationwide list of “most desirable small towns” in which to reside.

And signing up for affordable health insurance has been comparatively stress-free.

Of course we have our issues…over-aggressive police…theft…homelessness…dui…sex offenders…gun control. Yes, we have school shootings too.

It’s probably obvious from what I’ve said that Washington is pretty much a liberal state. Thanks to that, its citizens will do better than most when the Federal Government of the Tea Party, run by the Koch brothers assumes power.

It might be that our country is headed for the Great Depression that President Obama tried to head off when he took office. The faction of right-wing conservatives who were never going to submit to the leadership of a black liberal have convinced the majority of their political brethren to go back to the likes of George W. Bush.

This time though it will be more than just another economic collapse and another war. The earth as we know it will finally succumb to the oil barons. And the entire world will revert back to the days of the Wild, Wild West with the have-nots going after the haves with a vengeance.

I feel for folks who live in Ohio and similar states marching to the drumbeat of ultra right wing conservatives. A recent article in Rolling Stone Magazine highlighted a couple of towns suffering under the ideologies of Tea Party politicians.

Most of the young middle-and working-class women I meet in Lima had children very young, many before they were 18; Allen county has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Ohio. And yet, Ohio has been at the forefront of recent attacks on reproductive rights. The state has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, and its most recent budget placed $1.4 million in funding for Planned Parenthood at risk, while allocating money to Christian-based “crisis pregnancy centers.” Lima’s one family-planning clinic offering limited abortion services recently closed down; today, a search for abortion clinics in Lima will turn up a pro-life organization called Heartbeat of Lima. Though the county health department offers free birth control, a woman wanting an abortion must travel more than an hour to Toledo, to a clinic that, thanks to restrictions that have closed almost half of Ohio’s abortion clinics in the past year, may soon be forced to shut its doors. “People don’t talk about abortion in Lima.” says Carissa.

Carissa split with the father of her son when she was 23. She waitressed while putting herself through college. When her hours were cut back she had to go on public assistance. ” ‘It wasn’t something that I talked about…I wasn’t taking advantage of anything. I had to have insurance for my son. I had to feed my son. My only other option was to drop out of school.’ “

“The problem is that if you grow up in, say, a lower-income family, your options are extremely limited,” says Carissa. It doesn’t matter what kind of grades you get in high school, she notes, as college is now a luxury for most people. And even with a college degree, then what? “It used to be you go to college, get married, have children–you did the right things, and then you’d be guaranteed some kind of future,” she says. “But the whole pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps American-dream thingy…that’s kind of mythology at this point. To me, it’s like a winning lottery ticket.”

When the Tea Party overtakes Capitol Hill and the White House, it’s my fervent hope that you’ll be living in a state where you feel like you’ve…

…hit the lottery!

…hugmamma.