“Gloom, despair and agony on me. Deep dark depression, excessive misery.” Senior citizens and anyone who watches old “Hee Haw” reruns will remember that segment, a series of bad jokes introduced by four singing fellows tippling from moonshine jugs.

Many in the tea party consider the 2012 election a bad joke, and we aren’t laughing.

Apparently, many voters decided that the devil that you know is better than an unknown quantity. Romney keyed much of his message to entrepreneurs – or, one in 357 working adults (Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity). The tea party arose as millions of Americans protested the brutish takeover of health care by Democrats (Obamacare).  Even today, 50 percent of us want repeal (Gallup, November 2012).