— this time from Rebecca Rast, who whines that there is very little difference between Republicans and Democrats in Congress:
The gap of opposing viewpoints between Republicans and Democrats in Congress is closing.
The fears of a Tea Party takeover in Congress from the 2010 elections are far gone, and in fact, should now be laughed at.
Republicans had their opportunity, as the leading party in the U.S. House of Representatives, to take a stand — the stand they promised they’d take to the American people — to fight against frivolous government spending, overregulation of the private sector and to put America back on a path to prosperity.
Where does the health of America stand two years after those promises were made?
The country now boasts a national debt of $15.3 trillion — now exceeding the national economy, which at the end of 2011 came in at $14.95 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The much-too-low unemployment rate touted by the Department of Labor of 8.3 percent is more accurately estimated to be closer to 11 percent. Also, in 2011, Congress increased spending from the year before, raised the debt limit by $2 trillion, and funded ObamaCare. And you can’t forget about Congress’ most recent move: extending the payroll tax cut along with unemployment benefits — with absolutely no way of paying for it.
For all of this to have happened the U.S. House, again with Republicans in the majority, had to agree to it — and that they did. What has happened that caused Republicans, who stand on a platform of fiscal conservatism and smaller government, to have seemingly forgone these values in exchange for the status quo? Why aren’t they standing up for the core conservative values on which they campaigned?
[…]
Under this House Republican leadership, compromises have been few and more often than not the true conservative agenda has been put aside in order to appease Democrats in the Senate and White House.
How, two years after a huge nationwide movement like the Tea Party, has so much changed? Does getting a taste of the power and prestige of Capitol Hill strip a member of his core ideals? Does feeling the pressure of having to kowtow to leadership cause new members to buckle? Or maybe it’s the desire to keep ones job because, after all, two years really isn’t enough to accomplish all you want, right?! Or is it some kind of strategy, whereas after the elections if Republicans retain a majority in the House they can throw all these concessions in the face of Democrats and claim the nation hasn’t improved so now they get to do things their way?
Regardless of the reasoning or explanations behind this new sheepish Republican majority, it is bothersome. How can you know that who you elect will fight for your rights and protect your interests? But then again, this is the joy of a democratic form of government, in two year’s time House members can be gone as quickly as they came.
Until November rolls around, I think all voters who associate themselves with the Republican Party deserve to see a change in the House of Representatives. After the payroll tax debacle, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said, “I think we’ll get through this moment and the dust will settle and people will see the differences [between political parties].”
He better hope he’s right. Members of that Chamber need to get back to the basics of why they are in charge and not be afraid to throw their weight around.
America is in trouble and every move made thus far has only plunged the nation further into debt. If there was ever a time for fiscal conservatism to come to fruition in the halls of Congress, now is that time.
Poor Ms Rast: an ideologue in a time of accommodation. An extremist in a time of collegiality. A fighter in a time of lovers. A conservative in a time of Republicrats.
Is there anything more sad than such an agitated, impotent creature, kicking and screaming against the tide of dialectical materialism and the Will of the Utopian Dreamers born to save us all from ourselves?
Honestly. It’s very unseemly. Best she should just get her ass in line. To borrow a phrase.
She’s probably the type who’d wear a short skirt or a low-cut blouse to CPAC. Not proper country club material at all.
So electing a plurality part of a slight majority in 1/2 of 1/3 of the federal government hasn’t completely reversed a century of progressive expansion of government in the just 1 year and 3 weeks since they were elected so all is lost? I can just imagine her reaction to the events of 1942 or the first wave at Omaha beach. This war has barely begun.
A Phoenecian in the time of Romans
geoffb,
That was my reaction, too. I don’t want to make excuses for the Boehners in Congress, but if Ms. Rast thinks that her laundry list of wants was going to be addressed in the speed she wanted, well, she’s delusional.
We need a new leadership team in the Senate and House. The TEA Party would need to wake up and somehow pressure the Republican members of the House and Senate into a new leadership vote, followed by the removal of McConnell and Boehner and their lieutenants.
I see from a headline at HotAir that John Ziegler has a post up at PuffHo entitled “Why has Sarah Palin not been suspended from Fox News?”. By now it is clear that this is unrequited love lashing out; it’s fair time Todd kicked his ass.
The erstwhile conservative Rebecca Rast is yet unfamiliar with the Imperial Presidency? That Which Shall Not be Named?
Heh. But sad.
That was my reaction, too. I don’t want to make excuses for the Boehners in Congress, but if Ms. Rast thinks that her laundry list of wants was going to be addressed in the speed she wanted, well, she’s delusional.
I don’t think so. Now, I don’t think they could accomplish everything, but it would be nice to see them off full throated support for the ideals, to make the case for them, to be on offense.
“This war has barely begun.”
Where have you been and what are you waiting for? The left has been kicking the country’s ass for over a century; the war started long ago.
I also notice that shooting wars we entered with both a will and little regard for remorse were over in four years tops.
As Milton Friedman sad, we have to make it so the wrong people do the right thing. We have to change the political climate.
I have no idea how we’re going to do that, but it needs doing.
Doing what I can for the past 40 years. what do you expect, that I should go out and start shooting my political opponents?
Perhaps you do. But comparing this war of ideology to WWII is more apples and oranges than a true comparison. The two ideas that are in conflict have been at war for longer that America has existed. The current battle is to get back control of at least 2 of the three branches of our federal government.
Even that would be basically a holding action that rolls back as much as it can and sets an example of how this will improve the country, but until the larger society can somehow be made aware of and care for what the nation was founded on, all the wins can be reversed again.
I revise my earlier sentence thus: This “battle” then.
Geoffb, perhaps Brett means to refer to the unpleasantnesses of 1775-83 and 1861-4. Does sufficient time remain and political will exist to undo a century of programming? Can society at large be reminded of and made to care about the founding principles?
It seems that we go one step forward with a Reagan and two steps backward with an Obama.
Part of why this is a long hard slog.
It was the takeover of the higher education establishment in the late 60s that allowed so much else to fall. Those seeking graduate degrees were subjected to pressure to change their political views. Those that did so would prosper more than those that didn’t.
This was a way to move the ideological left into the positions of control in many institutions and from there use those positions to further increase the numbers and power of the “enlightened”.
What subset of the population do all who run the institutions around us come from? Those with higher degrees. By setting out to influence that small subset the future control so many things was set into motion. Unions, education from per-school up, foundations with all their resources, news and entertainment media, etc. etc.
Reversing this takes more than speeches from the steps of Congress.
“Reversing this takes more than speeches from the steps of Congress.”
Now we’re talking! How might we remove progressives from their government funding? Why in hell are the professors in charge of their universities, let alone the government apparatus?
Speaking of unhelpful visigoths, the Religion of Pieces is at it again. Moroccan stopped to pray at a mosque beforehand.
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Red, I was reading some criminology stuff last night about honor killings in the US. Most of the perpetrators are Iranian. I guess Persians are not as enlightened as they would like to lie about.
If it would make her feel better she could go over to, say DU, and hear others make similar complaints about Democrats. As in misery loving company or some such thing.
But leigh, that’s the good religious freedom. As compared to not wanting to fund or provide a “health service” that goes against a basic belief.
I know! It’s just like the Taliban, Joy Bahar said so.
Women like Joy Bahar are the reason the Taliban makes women wear bags over their heads.
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