Today we saw the President and members of Congress return to Washington to try to piece together a deal before the fiscal cliff deadline passes on January 1st.

I hope everyone agrees with me when I say I am slightly more than disappointed in Congress, though I expected this much when the whole ordeal began. After coming so close to a deal, the political games began and whatever was about to happen fell through and turned into the mess that we're facing now.

It seems like even though we're on a CLIFF, the members of congress that we elected care more about preserving their reputations than passing the right deal for America- though nothing will kill a reputation faster than the track we appear to be on. I loved the progress that I was seeing. It seemed like, for once, politicians would get it done.

Now, the only thing we're getting done is arguing about things that we can compromise on. If anything happens at this point, they will pass something that will delay the issue for another year or two, where they will argue more about it then.

How about not continuing the cycle?

Back in April, they argued about the economy and passed a bill full of nothing to raise the debt ceiling and delay the real debate until now, with a "fiscal cliff" bill that was supposed to give them a nice kick and an incentive to get something done. Now, they're going to work around that incentive. How bad can it get?

Congress still has time to work out a real deal, like what Boehner and Obama were proposing before that stupid, awful "Plan B" fiasco. I would like to use my nonexistent influence to call on them to work towards a real deal and cut the cycle of political games and delaying the debate. Eventually, someone's going to have to grow a pair and face the economic mess- so why not now?

All I'm saying is that there is still time.