As many of you have probably guessed, I like to listen to talk radio. And of those I listen to, the one person that I usually always manage to learn something from is Mark Levin. It was just yesterday that I posted something here that, while at the time I thought it made sense, it was only after listening to Mark that that little light bulb went off in my head that made me realize that what I had written actually made very little sense at all.
The main premise of my post centered around the fear that I have that if the Republicans do gain control of Congress and do not handle themselves well over the course of the next two years leading up to the next presidential election, then they, as well as the country, are essentially doomed to go the way of the dinosaur. And in reading what it was that our House Majority Leader intended to put forward, his, at least initially, sounded like an adequate plan.
BUT…Then along came Mark to enlighten me.
My previous post had to do with the fact that we now have less than a week to go before what will be one of the most important elections in many of our lives. I spoke of how Kevin McCarthy had sent out a preview of the House agenda for next year. And I guess I allowed my eagerness at the prospect of having Republicans gaining what would be complete control of Congress to blind me to what it is that McCarthy is really proposing.
Mark made it clear how it is that we are living through a time of upheaval with Barry fundamentally remaking America. How we have Obamacare, open borders, a dangerously insecure visa system, global Jihad, and now even infectious diseases being forced upon our country. And how on the economic front, we have crushing energy regulations that raise the cost of living and destroy jobs and how we have the threat of an Internet sales tax.
And he went on to point out how we have a president who has accumulated more debt than any president in our history and how we have the complete collapse of federalism with unelected judges violating states’ rights and religious liberty. Most scandalously, he explained how we have a president who is promising to remake America through endless executive orders, most prominently, through remaking our immigration system.
And yet, the sum total of the McCarthy agenda is "making government work again." His most potent proposals are limiting the number of agency reports that Congress must read and look into tacking on regulatory reforms to all bills that authorize new regulations! And adding insult to injury, he cites the 2012 highway bill as being the paradigm for success and future initiatives, even though it added to the deficit and contained numerous policy and process problems.
Mark point out how it is that McCarthy fails to mention immigration; just as there is no mention of repealing Obamacare through budget reconciliation; no mention of reversing Barry’s wrongheaded policies with fighting ISIS and Ebola. There’s no mention of using the power of the purse to stop Barry’s executive orders and no mention of passing legislation to protect religious liberty against the sexual identity mafia.
Mark also pointed to how McCarthy seems to be on a crusade to make the bureaucracies work more efficiently with notional and intangible policy solutions. Ironically, the only way you can ensure that the agencies work efficiently is by wielding the power of the purse over them, something McCarthy, for some reason, is clearly scared to do. Where is the bold vision? Where is the Morning in America come November 5?
But, as pointed out by Mark, therein lies the acute division between the two branches of the Republican Party, laid bare before the eyes of the public. The vision of the party elite has always been the same. It is a vision of avoiding anything consequential. It is a vision of holding the ball and running out the clock so as to preserve their power without taking any risks, even on popular proposals that will anger the Democrats.
In light of this memo, Mark points out the fact that the House conference plans to hold leadership elections and adopt the rules for next Congress within a week of the new incoming freshmen winning election. And he points out how these people, many of whom are citizen candidates unfamiliar with Washington, will likely still picking out their new D.C. apartments and trying to orient themselves to their surroundings.
Yet, he says, they are given hardly any time to evaluate the leadership of their party, they will be shepherded into a room where they will conduct a kangaroo court-style election and adoption of the rules before these freshmen even get a chance to mobilize and offer some semblance of a rational input. And I can only assume that that is what’s intended by the likes of Mr. McCarthy. How else can the maintaining of the status quo be guaranteed.
Mark points to those incoming freshmen who ran on stopping Barry’s executive orders and amnesty. Those who ran on repealing Obamacare through the budget process, protecting religious liberty, and on the notion that they would serve as the bulwark against Barry’s most dangerous years in office. They deserve a choice, not an echo. They deserve an opportunity to push for alternative leaders and ideas that will reflect the desires of those who elected them.
Barry and the Democrats are so unpopular right now that it appears that the Republican Party is headed for a victory in 6 days whether they run on red meat or on nothing more than soggy white bread. But come November 5, the new members and those who elected them deserve leadership that will actually confront those who are working so hard to reshape our form of government, not work with them to help preserve it.
So, as the title of this post makes clear, I now stand corrected. And as Mark has made so very clear, we must be able to see through what it is that the likes of McCarthy, Boehner, and even McConnell, are telling us when it comes to what it is that they intend to do with their new found control of Congress. They are not to be trusted, because far from being the solution, they are nothing more than part of the continuing problem with Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment