Republicants Setup For Failure In Mid-Terms

     As of next Friday, the United States Treasury will be unable to issue bonds for the purposes of paying for government debt, unless the debt limit ceiling is increased. You remember the debt limit ceiling? It comes around every so often after President Obama has squandered trillions of hard earned tax payer dollars and demands that congress increase the limit on the nation's credit card, which currently has a balance owed of 17 trillion dollars. The Republicants in congress dutifully acquiesce after pretending to put up a fuss just to fool their base into thinking they are fiscally responsible.
     The current debt limit debate, which will be more like the sound of one hand clapping, if one remembers, was the "fight" that Republicant leadership said they were going to have in lieu of possessing the gonads to defund ObamaCare when they had the chance last spring. But lately, John Boehner and his band of misfits are making noises of defeat, not even demonstrating the pretense of exacting concessions from President Obama in exchange for his ability to put the country in even deeper debt. The Republicant leadership is said by some to be "worn out" over the constant battles with the president. It must take an extreme amount of energy and effort to engage in all that rolling over.
      The broken record of congressional Republicant leadership on the issue of "taking a stand" has alienated much of their base to the point that many may stay home in the upcoming mid-term elections this November. While pundits and others on the Right are predicting gains in the House of Representatives and a "good chance" for a Senate takeover by Republicants, I see a different scenario playing out.
     My pessimism is not because I think Democrats have a more electable platform to run on, after all they have driven this country to the edge of bankruptcy and the worse unemployment we have ever seen, but because Republicants have been more enablers than opposition. Simply raising the debt limit with no concessions from the president makes the whole concept of a limit null and void. The Republicants should remove the farce of the debt limit and allow the president to borrow and spend as much as he wants. In essence that has been the modus operandi over the last 5 years with little exception.
     Speaker of the House, John Boehner, recently quipped that there is no sense in congress passing laws that the president is going to pick and choose which parts of said laws he wants to enforce or not. Well jiminy cricket Batman, is it not congress that has allowed this president to run wild in the candy store, ignoring the restraints put on him by the constitution like a child ignoring the flaccid voice of a weak parent? The power of the constitution is in the willingness of each of the three branches of government to restrain the other two branches, and for the people of the United States to restrain them all with their power of the vote. Sadly, we have become an unrestrained society in which the constitution has no place, and the vacuum will be filled by the oppression of tyranny, realizing the greatest fears of our Founding Fathers.  

Conventional Wisdom Values Politics Over Principle

     I purposely subjected myself yesterday to the blathering of moderates on the Right with their conventional wisdom that concluded since Republicants surrendered to Obama and Senate Democrats, that their initial strategy was somehow flawed. These scared mice masquerading as men have been predicting Republicant defeat all along, causing it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And the thrust of their blame is not directed towards those who surrendered without a shot, but at Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has been one of the very few warriors for liberty.
     Conventional wisdom said that the Cruz strategy had little chance of winning a political victory, so therefore, should have never been tried. These fools on the Right pushing this brand of conventional wisdom still do not understand what Ted Cruz and the conservative movement is all about. Since when is political victory more important than the very survival of the republic? Since when is political victory more important than taking up arms in the defense of liberty and freedom? Since when is political victory more important than the very lifeblood of this great nation, its founding documents and the principles and values contain within them? So are we as conservatives now expected to accept our representatives in Congress placing a higher value on politics than principles, just like the Democrat representatives?
     These conventional wisdomers who wish to hide and ignore their lack of courage to defend their principles have said that Cruz and the House Republicants' strategy was the wrong one. That it was politically ill-advised. Let me dispel this theory with facts. The American people were behind the Republicants and there were an ever-growing number of them that did not want any part of ObamaCare. President Obama's approval rating hit an all time low during the shutdown. Mr. Obama and the Senate Democrats were nervous that they were losing the battle and that is why, even though they said they would not, they were beginning to negotiate with Republicants. And instead of pushing the Democrats and the President into a hole and burying them, the Republicants let them up and got in the hole themselves. But the conventional wisdomers use polling data to determine strategy instead of reading the defense. It is analogous to a quarterback asking the fans in attendance what play he should run instead of reading the defense on the field and running a play he thinks will defeat them.
     I do not have much sympathy for those who believe in conventional wisdom in this situation, nor do I have any acrimony for them. Conventional wisdom is a salve used to soothe those who do not posses the courage of their convictions. These folks on the Right want to be assured that before they defend conservative principles that they will score a political victory. George Washington did not know if he was going to win the American Revolution, but he still fought it because he believed its principles were worth fighting for, win or lose. I have a little news for the conventional wisdomers on the Right. When the dust clears, and the future is looking for strong leadership, it will be men like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, et al that will be hoisted into the halls of the people's trust over the lifeless political bodies of men like John McCain, John Boehner and others who placed a greater value on politics than principle.
      
    

Animal Farm Congress

     In the final scene of George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, the pigs are having dinner with the humans inside the farm house as the other animals stand outside and look in through the windows. The pigs, as you remember, had become the elite ruling class on the farm after the animal revolution which banished the humans. In this final scene, the animals standing outside realize that they can no longer tell the pigs from the humans. I was reminded of this scene as I watched Republicants like John McCain, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and others give up the cause of liberty and join Democrats in passing a spending and debt limit bill that betrayed the American people, and the conservative principles which formed the basis of this great republic.    
     The Senate bill, written by Majority Leader Harry Reid extends government spending into next year, along with the debt limit. Once again the Democrats have succeeded in kicking the can down the road with the support of their trained Republicant monkeys in the House and Senate leadership positions. But beyond the disposition of John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and other Republicants who have not distinguished themselves from Democrats, are the questions that remain. The question of where do conservatives go for representation in congress? And where do the American people go for relief from the onslaught of Socialism that seems to be the all-consuming mission of the modern Democrat party? Furthermore, why did the Republicants cry uncle when they had the Democrats in a full Nelson and were winning the battle everywhere except inside the Washington beltway? And finally, why did the Republicants join this lawless administration in a clear violation of the United States Constitution, which requires all spending bills to originate in the House of Representatives, not the Senate as this one did?
     I really thought that this time, just maybe, the apparent backbone that Republicant congressional leadership was showing was not vapor that would disappear in the slightest wind. I felt that someone was finally standing up for the American people against the thuggery and tyranny of this administration and the Democrat party in the United States Congress. I was foolish enough to believe that the enormity and seriousness of the dire circumstance in which this country finds itself after five years of a President whose goal was to "fundamentally transform America," had dawned in the dimly lighted minds of congressional Republicants. Now I just feel like those animals on the farm, looking in through the windows, and not being able to tell the Republicants from the Democrats.

Who Is Winning The Shutdown Battle ?

     The feared partial shutdown of the federal government that is in its second week has not turned out to be the disaster for Republicants that the establishment GOP and some in talk radio tried to say it would be when it was just a glimmer in Barack Obama's eye. At least up until this point in its second week, the polling shows that Republicants are not losing the battle of the shutdown, in fact, in some surveys, they are actually gaining ground on the Democrats as the party that is trying to resolve the stalemate.
     But for some scared little rabbits on the Right, like radio movie critic and self-proclaimed Conservative, Michael Medved, the shutdown is analogous to the Goldwater loss in the 1964 presidential election. Mr. Medved actually whined for weeks before the event that Republicants would be slitting their own throats if they engaged in such reckless behavior as standing on their principles. Even after the shutdown occurred, it was Mr. Medved who suggested that Republicants find a "gracious way to lose." And that statement, in a nut shell, is what is wrong with the moderate and establishment influence on the party of Lincoln and Reagan.
     Had John Boehner and the Republicants in the House stood against the oppressiveness of President Obama and Senate Democrats and done nothing after the shutdown, I would agree that it would not have gone well for them. It still may not, but their strategy of sending individual funding bills to the Senate for various functions of government, and letting the Democrats own the shutdown lock, stock and barrel, is the best strategy for success. And the bill passed by the House last weekend to authorize back pay for federal workers after the shutdown ends, was a stroke of brilliance. If Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate refuse to take up the bill, they will be pilloried by the federal workers and their unions. If they pass the bill, the American people will wonder why back pay for federal workers is more important than Veterans Affairs, National Institute of Health, Parks and Monuments, Federal Emergency Management, Defense and Homeland Intelligence, and other government functions that the House has chosen to fund but the Democrat-controlled Senate has not.
     President Obama called congressional leaders to the White House last week just to say that he was not going to negotiate. This week, he called John Boehner to say the same thing and to tell the Speaker that he, the President, would accept nothing less than complete surrender from the Republicants. One does not keep telling one's opponent that he is unwilling to negotiate if he thinks he is winning. And President Obama's behavior is analogous to a child holding his breath to get what he wants, and seeing that his parents are not giving into his demands, he then threatens to run away from home. President Obama is not threatening to run away from home, unfortunately, but his insistence that he will not negotiate with John Boehner and the Republicants is just as empty a threat. And it signals his growing concern that the Republicants are winning the battle for the minds and hearts of the American people when it comes to assigning blame for the shutdown. This battle is the Republicants to win or lose, stand on principle and keep sending funding bills to the Democrat-controlled Senate to ignore, or get weak in the knees and give President Obama the surrender he wants but to which he is not entitled.

Good Strategy, Bad Execution

     The strategy of House Republicants during this partial shutdown of the federal government of passing individual funding measures, each addressing whichever federal department or program the Democrats are demagoguing that day, is a good one. It has, however, illustrated two character flaws, one on the Left and one on the Right. If this partial shutdown of the federal government can achieve anything at all, shedding a light on the folly that is Leftist ideology and the child-like thinking of Republicants, would be two outcomes that would go a long way to improving, not only the federal government, but the voters' perception of it.
     The House Democrats, in rejecting the funding of Veterans Affairs and National Parks, said that it was unfair for Republicants to make them choose between federal programs to be funded. This statement is illustrative of one of the greatest tyrannies of Leftism, the spending of other peoples' money to fund programs that perpetuate and augment the authority of those in the ruling class. It does not even occur to these Democrats that every responsible individual, family, business, community, state and yes, even country, has to make financial choices based on priority. Most entities following a budget do not have the luxury of unlimited funds to indulge every one of their child-like whims and fantasies. The Democrats' statement exemplifies how they look at the federal government as a big ATM machine that is forcibly funded with tax payers' money which is then used to pay off their political supporters and donors.
     The House Republicants' weakness was best illustrated by Congressman Mick Mulvaney in an interview I heard Wednesday morning. He said, in answer to a question about Republicants' messaging being flaccid and weak, that when you are doing the right thing, people will find out. This has been a problem with the Republicant party for as many years as I can remember. They think that right makes might, but the Democrats political might springs from the essence of what Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels said, "Lie big and lie often."
     This inability or unwillingness of Republicants to market their ideas to the public causes their good strategies, like the current one of passing individual funding bills, to be nullified by poor execution. Another example of this Republicant weakness is when ObamaCare was passed into law using the legal but inappropriately unconstitutional process of reconciliation. A process used only for budgetary measures that have bi-partisan support. But the Republicants allowed Democrats to violate the very spirit of the Constitution instead of educating the public with a marketing campaign that pointed out that a major piece of legislation like ObamaCare, which allows the federal government to commandeer 17% of the private economy, was unconstitutionally made law with one-party support in violation of the rules of good and decent lawmaking.
     No one quite knows how and when the current standoff is going to end. But one thing is clear, Democrats will continue to lead the country on a death march towards the Leftist cliff of an ever increasing tyranny because Republicants, while well intentioned, are all the same incapable of making the case for liberty to the American people.
    
    

The Born Again Republic

     Now that we have traversed day one of a partial shutdown of the federal government, with the United States Congress having seen fit to fund the essential functions of that government, the true nature of a representative and constitutional government is abundantly illuminated. That nature is defined and completed by the term "essential," because after all, those are the only functions the founders saw for the central government, whose power they severely limited in favor of giving that authority to the people and the states in which they resided. So this is not so much a government shutdown as it is a born again republic.
      I would like to see the 800,000 federal workers who were furloughed as a result of this born again republic, be permanently furloughed. Now before you accuse me of being heartless to the plight of those people losing their jobs, let me explain. The so-called "non-essential" functions of the federal government are those things which the government does that either restricts private sector growth or gives large swaths of power to unelected union bosses and bureaucrats. With the federal government restricted by a lack of funding, they would no longer be able to stick their greedy little fingers in every aspect of our lives, communities and businesses. Those 800,000 federal workers would have no problem finding work in the burgeoning private sector economy that would result.
     It may take some time for those federal workers and others to heal from their unhealthy dependence on big government and unbridled union influence, but in the long run, they and the nation would be healthier for it. They would have to learn to fend for themselves like the rest of us, e.g., pay for their own health care insurance, their own retirement accounts and work some holidays that they currently get paid for not working. And without those federal bureaucracies and their multi-billion dollar budgets, politicians would have to learn to live with much less control over the lives of individuals, businesses and the country as a whole. The crony capitalists would also have to conduct their business without favors from government largess created by the politicians who hand it out in exchange for campaign donations.
     Yesterday's spectacular failure of the online registration system for ObamaCare was illustrative of what results from government straying outside the bounds of the essential functions that the founders outlined for it almost 240 years ago. Even the national parks, which have become more and more off-limits to the very tax payers who support them, could be maintained and preserved by private sector organizations and donations. The born again republic, which is glimpsed by this partial shutdown of the federal government, would make the founders smile and the rest of us enjoy the kind of liberty that they intended for this great nation.

The Complicit Republicant Party

     The impending one-two punch to the fiscal sanity of this nation is right around the corner with the continuing resolution needed to fund the government for another six to eight months, and a raise in the nation's debt limit beyond the current 16.7 trillion dollars it has reached under Barack Obama. It is hard to believe that a little over four and a half years ago, when Barack Obama was sworn in as this nation's forty fourth president, our debt was around ten trillion dollars. This president has not only racked up more debt than any other in history, but more than the first forty two presidents combined. And he still has three and a half years left in his term!
     While spending more money than our nation has, over forty percent more at last count, is entirely on President Obama's shoulders and the shoulders of the Democrats in Congress, it has been congressional Republicants who have helped them to flourish in an age of continuing resolutions. At least since January of 2011, when Republicants took control of the House of Representatives, they should have required that the President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hammer out a budget for the federal government every year as required by the Constitution. Instead, Repbulicants (new readers may notice I call them Republicants because they are not the least bit effective against Barack Obama and congressional Democrats) have allowed President Obama not only to shirk his Constitutional responsibility, but use the continuing resolution process, and threats of blaming a government shut-down on Republicants, to beat them into submission on a variety of issues.
     As important as previous continuing resolution fights have been, the current one is the last chance for Republicants, or anyone else for that matter, to cripple and hopefully bring about the demise of the President's government take-over of this nation's health care industry. Once the funding for the subsidies begin in January, whether the exchanges are properly operating or not, it will be impossible to pull the plug on the beast. Not only will ObamaCare ruin the best health care industry in the world, it will forever change the way U.S. citizens relate to their federal government and it will give that federal authority more power over the lives of individuals than ever before. And last time I checked, more government control in the lives of the governed is called tyranny.
     Some on the Right, like radio movie critic with delusions of being a Conservative talk show host, Michael Medved, have said that congressional Republicants should not even try to de-fund ObamaCare because the resulting government shutdown will be blamed on them and that is a losing political strategy. I am sure glad the colonists and our Founding Fathers did not feel that way or we would all be drinking tea, eating boiled tasteless food and walking around with bad dental hygiene.
    Where Mr. Medved et. al have it wrong is that de-funding ObamaCare is not a losing strategy, it is the feckless way in which Republicants implement that strategy that makes it more unlikely to be
successful. Those on the Right like Mr. Medved think we should not engage in a principled fight simply because our leadership in Congress is incapable of articulating the Conservative message. Maybe what we need is new leadership who believe in taking principled stands, not for political victory, but to preserve the liberty and freedom that the Founding Fathers bequeathed us and for which it is our responsibility to preserve for future generations.