Elections (Should) Have Consequences

Watching the fiscal negotiations unfold in Washington, I can only think that either the memory of the American public is insanely short, or the GOP is willfully out of touch, or both.  Does anyone recall that we just finished a presidential election campaign that lasted for over a year, and that was supposed to determine this country's future political course?  I seem to remember one candidate campaigned both in 2008 and 2012 on a platform of raising taxes on the wealthy.  That candidate also happened to win both elections against opponents totally opposed to any tax increases, even on the wealthiest Americans.

I also don't seem to recall the opposition party ever coming out publicly in favor of cuts to Social Security, but now they are being held up as the price to be paid for tax increases.  If they had, I am sure they would have performed even worse in the last election.  On the whole "fiscal cliff" issue, one side wants to do exactly what it promised the public it would do, and which the public approved.  On the other side, politicians are pushing an agenda that never even came up when they ran for election.  I am amazed yet again at the ability of our "democratic" system to simply deny the public will in order to appease an ideologically-motivated fringe minority.