By Jim Russell

While I grew angrier at the lunacy of tax cuts in Washington D.C. last week, I was equally shocked at the lunacy of my own anger. Both the anger and the lunacy have to stop, so I hope writing about them helps.

Voters burdened by economic frustration and deficit spending drove the 2010 federal elections. Public approval ratings of Congress, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority leader sank to historic lows. Elections of new representatives and senators overturned the majority party in the House and shrank its power in the Senate.

The new congressional members immediately reinstated the four leaders in their parties whose performances were rejected by the public. Next year’s House Speaker had a lower approval rating at the time of his election than the current House speaker.

The future House Speaker and Senate minority leader of the opposing party met with the president, a one-person-presidential-party. He’d promised hope and change, but currently appears hopeless after massive staff changes.

Their meetings created a mislabeled bipartisan agreement to increase fiscal debt by at least $300 billion. The party leaders promise to borrow $112 billion to give to their wealthy friends. The president hopes his party agrees to borrow $188 billion for their lower-income friends.

Both of them agreed that matching increased debt with budget cuts was impossible since Congress wasted the summer avoiding the issue. However, if taxes on the wealthy were approved, the debt would be limited to $60 billion.

Writing about this fiscal malfeasance vents my anger and adds a voice to overcome public tolerance for Congressional lunacy.

Meanwhile I misdirect anger at my wife, despite celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary last Monday. That interlude plus multiple obligations intensified our first week of hectic Christmas decorating before guests arrived.

One of my duties is setting up our falsely advertised Scottsdale-prelit-plastic pine tree. The lights are not pre-lit, they’re pre-hung. My job is to light them.  Last year my wife spent a couple of hours searching for loose plugs and unlit bulbs among dense limbs. My approval ratings as a Christmas decorator hit historic lows. This year would be different, and I hoped to continue the blissful feelings from our anniversary.

Friday morning I got the tree up and I swear the lights worked. I had plenty of time before company arrived Sunday, so I left to play tennis.

I returned to find an unplugged light string, a major gap in the tree’s lights, a card table set up and Karen’s bridge partners expected within minutes. She had wasted time trying to plug in the string.

Fortunately I wasn’t up for re-election or I’d have been turned out.  I was angry she hadn’t told me company was coming Friday. I fumed.

The next morning I checked my blood pressure, which my doctors insist be monitored every morning. My top priority is repairing my cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation with behavioral change and my doctors’ prescriptions. My major danger is a stroke.

Happily, my discipline had lowered my systolic blood pressure significantly. Doctors said my health had improved based on the past four weeks.

Casually I checked my systolic pressure. It had almost doubled in one day. I checked the other arm. Its pressure had doubled. My risk of a stroke over lights on a Christmas tree probably doubled. That’s lunacy.

I stuffed anger at my performance but can no longer tolerate that personal emotional lunacy. That has to change. So do plans for federal fiscal deficits.

There, I feel better.

Got a comment on Jim’s column? Shoot us an email at [email protected], or visit his blog at blog.jamessrussell.com.