Congressional Approval

With congressional approval now hovering at or near 10% and a significant number of them actively contemplating jumping ship before they get sucked into the national health plan, certain unsettling possibilities unfold.

Way back when, in Italy, an unpopular and largely gridlocked parliament set the stage for a bright young fellow who promised to sidestep them, solve the nations problems on the spot, and make the trains run on time. His supporters to this day still claim he succeeded with the trains even though the historical record suggests otherwise.

With the congress struggling to displace amoebic dysentery in the public mind, a charismatic populist could ask for a snap referendum to disband congress until the next election and grant extraordinary powers to an activist president to solve the more pressing problems facing the country.

Don't worry. This sort of crackpot conspiracy requires, as I mentioned, a charismatic populist and probably not someone whose ratings are falling like Lindsy Lohan at a sobriety checkpoint.