Oddly enough, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two of my favorite founding fathers. Of course, their heated rhetorical rivalry is historic, as they straddled opposite paths on which they felt this country should follow. Reading them together helps keep me centered. I also refer to them both today because while so many politicos are quick to pledge allegiance to the founding fathers, they like to be a bit more selective when they actually cite them. So, I'll refer to both of these fine gentlemen.

Obviously, my eyes are on Washington, where the government sits idle.

Now, we suffer a tyranny of the minority: a couple dozen elected officials who believe their singular cause is the only cause, and it should be imposed on all of us, despite legal precedents to the contrary. It's that kind of Crusades talk that scares me more than your average corrupt politician.

Centrists such as me have become as much an “enemy of the state” as the opposition. Ironic, then, that a party so torn from the inside brooks no deviance from the party line. But we don't have to look any further than that streaking emperor to realize how fatal a lack of self-reflection can be.

But is this political apartheid any different than the economic one in which we already live? Our economy is run by a select 1 percent—why shouldn't our political establishment, as well?

Some experts have wondered if this political standoff threatens our very democracy. I suppose, in the most literal sense, it already does, since such a small cabal has managed to furlough nearly a million federal workers while casting such a dark shadow over the market that hundreds of thousands in the private sector will almost certainly follow.