Congratulating them in only the narrowest sense, Ezra Klein credits Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R‑KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R‑OH) for their success in obstructing President Obama the last four years. This has garnered endorsements for Mitt Romney from newspapers that see him as more capable of eliciting cooperation from these congressional leaders.

Nevermind how much this was an articulate strategy distinct from insisting on their own priorities. How outrageous that these men should be rewarded for obstruction, the Obama supporter fumes! And if you’re a Republican, you smugly chuckle.

And none of these politicized characters need consider U.S. government policies regarding military spending, entitlement spending, transportation spending, education spending, warrantless wiretapping, drone war, monetary policy, privacy, regulation, tax rates, tax incidence, waste, fraud, abuse, agriculture subsidies, endangered species, energy policy, or the drug war (What did I forget?–plenty). The differences between the two parties are minimal.

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. But while you’re hanging on this strange contest to control a big chunk of your life the next four years, the valets are stripping your car.

The current state of affairs–this political American Idol–is not God-given. Restoring the federal government to its proper role, and limiting states to theirs, we might once again take control and decide for ourselves how our wealth is apportioned and how our lives are run.

People on both sides think that this election is do-or-die, hopping on stage to take part in the play. But politics is no way to organize a society. Exeunt.