Our Democratic Legislators are putting a brave face on this whole mess - they can smile because their pay has not been cut - but we lost.

The minority - Republicans have one third of the state legislative seats plus two - got a small increase in taxes on poor people and massive cuts in education, welfare and state spending on health care. They also took large amounts of money from local governments so that the quality of local services will go down.

And, guess what, when the votes are counted two or maybe three Republicans will vote for the budget. The rest will vote against it and take no responsibility for the results.

As a result of these cuts, and of continued unpaid days off for state workers, the government will deliver poor quality services and fail to deliver services at all. This is just what they want since they think that it will fuel further disgust with government that they can use to argue for more cutbacks and more tax cuts.

Because the Republicans really do not believe in democracy or majority rule or anything of the sort. Their ideal commonwealth is a place where elected officials bow to the whims of those rich and ruthless enough to seize power. The worse our lives become the sooner they think that they can convince us to dispense with civility and go back to the Wild West.

Welcome to Deadwood, here come the Pinkertons.