Republicans? Why bother…
They campaigned on the basis of stopping the President’s “illegal overreach” on multiple issues. They claimed that they would change the direction the government was headed. They won an overwhelming victory at the polls.
Then the budget battles began and President Obama’s “executive action” on changing the immigration rules. Republicans like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul talked about using the budget to force the President to reverse his unconstitutional actions. John Boehner talked tough; noting that Republicans did not have the votes to force the issue until after they took office in January. He sweet-talked everyone into passing the bulk of the budget, getting the Republicans on board by only funding the Department of Homeland Security through February. At that time, he said, Republicans would hold both houses of Congress and could use continued DHS funding to force the President to reconsider by blocking funding implementing the immigration executive order.
This avoided a general government shutdown, which he perceived would only hurt Republicans, in exchange for the possibility of a limited, DHS shutdown the following year which, he explained, President Obama would “own.”
Then, on March 3rd, the House, under the direction of John Boehner, passed a “clean” bill, which did not block funding for the implementation of Obama’s executive orders on immigration, funding the DHS for the remainder of the year. And the President’s executive amnesty “over-reach?” Speaker Boehner says that will “continue to be litigated in the courts.”
Really? What happened to holding the President’s feet to the fire via DHS funding? What was the purpose of passing the budget except for only funding the DHS through February then? Apparently the purpose was to get the budget passed with a minimum of fuss and avoidance of a government shutdown. The intent apparently never was what he advertised to the American public.
Which brings up another question; what was really behind Speaker Boehner’s invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak before the congress, which also happened on Tuesday? Was it really so Netanyahu could address the Iran “deal” the President is pushing, or was it rather to obscure the fact that he planned to stab Conservatives in the back and fund DHS anyway without getting anything from Democrats in return? The timing is nothing short of suspicious.
Senate Republicans “never found a way to win this fight,” claimed the Speaker, citing House conservatives, who killed a three-week DHS funding measure last week as the reason why. After all, he continued, the real problem is in the Senate, where Republicans lacked the votes to break a Democratic filibuster.
Perhaps the Speaker can explain how he never saw this coming when he pushed his plan last year to pass the entire budget except for DHS funding, in order to obtain the leverage to force the President to change his mind. He knew at that time that the Senate lacked the votes to break a filibuster; he knew the Republicans didn’t have 60 seats, and that it was highly unlikely that they would find five Democrats to go along with them. He knew this – and pushed his plan anyway.
He also knew that even if, unlikely as it was, that they could find five Democrats to go along, that the President would veto any legislation reversing his decision, and that they certainly lacked, in both houses, the necessary 2/3 majority to override. He knew that – and pushed his plan anyway.
So here we are, lied to again, with Boehner blaming not the Democrats, not the President, but Conservatives in his own party (because there aren’t any Conservatives in the Democratic Party) for his being “forced” to let the President have his way. “This matter will continue to be litigated in the courts, where we have our best chance of winning this fight,” he says.
So, just like George W. Bush and the campaign finance reform legislation, Boehner, who has stated that he believes the action to be unconstitutional, has violated his oath and is relying on the courts to carry his water. Spines seem to be in short supply in the Republican leadership.
And while the courts are weighing in on the matter, how much time will pass? How many social security cards and driver’s licenses will be handed out to people who are not citizens and should not be here in the first place? How many of these, possessing valid credentials for voting in most states, will vote illegally in our next election?
Oh yes, it is illegal to vote in US elections if you are not a citizen of the US; but when you are here illegally anyway, what difference does it really make if you violate yet another law? Particularly when, if the party you are voting for (the one promising you all the goodies) wins, and you know that no investigation will be launched?
What makes Speaker Boehner so confident that the courts will decide to reverse the President anyway? Relying on the courts to “make the right choice” didn’t work out so well for George W. Bush and campaign finance reform, did it?
The fact of the matter is that no one knows how the courts will rule. When it comes to ruling on the Constitution, the courts don’t just look at the document and decide whether the law conforms or not; they look at all relevant court cases revolving around the issue and what precedents have been set. Some of them even look at laws in other countries and use those as a basis for their decisions. Read the Constitution and what its authors had to say and use that as a basis? Perish the thought!
I once had a long talk with a friend of mine who is a lawyer. He told me that during his coursework leading to his law degree, he only had one class on constitutional law. And at no time during that class did they even deign to read the document! The entire class was on case law regarding the Constitution. The document itself was largely irrelevant. American jurisprudence revolves mainly around precedents; and most courts are loath to overturn a precedent.
So exactly what can Speaker Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell accomplish? Not much I guess. When the Republicans held only one House of Congress, they said, the problem was that the Democrats held the Senate. So last election we gave them the Senate, and increased their dominance in the House. Apparently that too is not enough. I am sure that next election we will be told that what they really need is more Senate seats and the Presidency. Then, they will be able to do something.
Exactly what though? Republican leadership seems quick to pin blame on conservative in the party, and on those dastardly “tea-partiers.” At least they don’t call us “teabaggers” like the Democrats do – not yet at least. As a conservative and a tea-party supporter, I am getting tired of being excoriated by my “own” party. They smile in our face when they need our vote to get into office and then knife us at the first opportunity.
It used to be that one would make the observation that there is little difference between Democrats and Republicans; that both are headed in the same direction, it’s just that Democrats are getting there faster. Under this administration, the Democrats have gone full steam ahead, and really, it seems that Republicans, under current leadership, with token opposition are giving them their head. There is no difference that makes any real difference – both seem convinced that government is the solution to any and all problems and the faster we get to full government control and regulation of every aspect of our lives, the better off we will be.
Why are conservatives voting Republican? What are we getting for our vote? We frequently observe that the African American community, who votes overwhelmingly Democrat, is getting used and screwed by the Democratic Party. Are we not equally getting screwed and used by the Republicans? Would we be any worse off dumping the Republicans and starting our own party? Sure, Democrats might win elections – but they are winning them anyway, at least as far as their agenda is concerned, even when we elect Republicans!
We could start with conservatives in both houses joining the new Conservative Party; that would give us an elected base. We could caucus with the Republicans, if it seemed like a good idea, on a case by case basis, similar to the way that “Independents” caucus with the Democrats. But we would be our own separate party, with our own goals and our own solutions for the country’s problems. At the very least we would find out how many of our fellow countrymen really believe in conservative solutions and principles.
Benjamin Netanyahu gave a rousing speech on the floor of the Congress. It has been argued by some on the right that the floor of Congress hasn’t had such a speech in quite some time. The applause was deafening. But now it’s tomorrow, and back to business as usual. President Obama is still pursuing his “deal” with Iran, still implementing “Executive Amnesty,” and is now mulling an “Executive Corporate Tax Increase.” What plan does Speaker Boehner and the Republican leadership have to stop that one?
Do you believe anything Speaker Boehner says anymore? I don’t. He may be a great politician; surely he has shown his ability to manipulate those of his party. But he hasn’t stopped the runaway train that is the Obama administration. He hasn’t even slowed it down. In fact, he really hasn’t even tried. You would think that he would at least act based on self-preservation. But apparently he is oblivious to how increased executive action points out the actual superfluousness of Congress; pretty much all of the regulatory apparatus is contained within the Executive branch. Indeed, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that the sheer number of regulations, many of which have the force of law, exceeds the laws on the books these days. The President apparently plans to increase the corporate tax by merely instructing the IRS, which falls under the Executive branch, to do so.
It’s not hard to imagine the President directing all government activity in such a fashion, if the Congress allows him to. In fact, if the Congress were to disappear tomorrow, I bet the government could function perfectly well without it. We the people might not be so pleased, but the government would have no reason to care. Thus have republics transformed into dictatorships in the past
So, we have an election coming up in 2016. Explain to me again why I should be eager to support Republicans?