Boehner Caves Again Predictably
Back in December 2014 this write penned two pieces regarding the status of the Republican Party. The first predicted a possible cave-in and the second the beginning of one. Now the situation is for all practical purposes complete. It was capped off by the picture appearing above of John Boehner the House Speaker and supposed leader of the Republican majority kissing former Speaker Nancy Pelosi whom he should have as little to do with as possible. Particularly considering her treatment of the Republican Party on her watch.
Boehner quite obviously has sold out his Party and the American People by virtue of his introduction of a clean bill on funding the Department of Homeland Security including funding for the unconstitutional executive amnesty that Mr. Obama has attempted and is continuing to attempt to force on the people despite overwhelming dislike for the idea and after he had repeatedly stated in past years that he had no authority to take such action.
Boehner along with Senate Majority Leader McConnell in casting his lot with Obama and Pelosi has stated that he cares not an iota for the will of the people or for the fact that they gave the party a majority last November to avoid such occurrences as this. Boehner was supposed to draw the line rather than rubber stamp unlawful actions of the executive branch. Instead of relying on the courts the power to control federal spending was given to the Legislature and specifically to the House for a reason; to check an out of control executive or to enforce the will of the people against the rest of the government.
Pundits were quick to point out the potential for the demise of the Republican Party in 2016. And there is a real possibility that this might happen if two things come to pass. Of these the first would be the nomination of a squish or old guard Republican as the presidential candidate which would likely bring about the second; a statistically significant number of conservative minded voters simply refusing to vote on federal candidates abandoning the field to the left.
Boehner and company are probably counting on the electorate to have a short memory and /or to fall for their rhetoric that it was necessary to fund the department for purposes of national security. This is less likely now than at any time in the past because of the effects of Tea Party organizations and local talk radio both of which combine to keep the electorate informed and may play a role on the local level to remedy situations of which they do not approve. Within the last week the Internet has been showered with emails in the Northwest Houston area regarding the serious possibility of finding a capable candidate to take on Michael McCaul for his vote on the DHS funding bill.
This is not to say that a palace revolt will take place. But something resembling one may occur in the near future. Voters of both parties are now realizing that their supposed representatives are treating them with disdain and that the executive branch is no longer interested in what is best for the nation. Even the youth vote which has been a bastion of progressivism for the past half-century or so is turning against big and intrusive government because they realize that it is not operating in their personal best interest as was the preponderant belief for so many years.
The issue that results from this is whether the turn around is fast enough and decisive enough to halt the damage before it becomes permanent. There was one suggestion to the extent that to reverse the damage it might take unconstitutional action by a conservative to restore the system to normalcy; a contradiction in terms if there ever was one.
But what may spell the most important trend in the political arena at present is the move toward increased states rights aside from the potential for an Article 5 convention. Various states have begun doing this by enacting laws decriminalizing marijuana and other similar actions may follow. Texas is asserting rights to control its border with Mexico with respect to both immigration and drug interdiction. An unresponsive and / or hostile federal government may set the stage for broadening of this trend. A confrontation may eventually occur where a state may declare that it simply is not going to follow federal instructions contrary to its own will. The feds will either have to back down raising the old bugaboo of nullification or take on the recalcitrant state which may result in other states following suit or if the state in question had planned for such a future no real effect.
Either way the feds will lose because the result will wreck the original federal system in which the states were designed to be separate and independent entities with the national government acting as the coordinating power for purposes of international relations and for the settlement of interstate disputes. Beyond that the federal government was not intended to go and have if the state appointment of senators had not been replace by popular vote in 1913. The growth of federal power with state interests insufficiently represented in Washington DC was inevitable.
A century later a backlash may be developing. Will it be soon enough or decisive enough to restore individual rights? If the DC crowd get there way it will be nipped in the bud and the road to authoritarianism will continue. Otherwise we may recover and restore the nation to its rightful place as a bastion of liberty for all who support it.
Boehner Caves Again Predictably
Back in December 2014 this write penned two pieces regarding the status of the Republican Party. The first predicted a possible cave-in and the second the beginning of one. Now the situation is for all practical purposes complete. It was capped off by the picture appearing above of John Boehner the House Speaker and supposed leader of the Republican majority kissing former Speaker Nancy Pelosi whom he should have as little to do with as possible. Particularly considering her treatment of the Republican Party on her watch.
Boehner quite obviously has sold out his Party and the American People by virtue of his introduction of a clean bill on funding the Department of Homeland Security including funding for the unconstitutional executive amnesty that Mr. Obama has attempted and is continuing to attempt to force on the people despite overwhelming dislike for the idea and after he had repeatedly stated in past years that he had no authority to take such action.
Boehner along with Senate Majority Leader McConnell in casting his lot with Obama and Pelosi has stated that he cares not an iota for the will of the people or for the fact that they gave the party a majority last November to avoid such occurrences as this. Boehner was supposed to draw the line rather than rubber stamp unlawful actions of the executive branch. Instead of relying on the courts the power to control federal spending was given to the Legislature and specifically to the House for a reason; to check an out of control executive or to enforce the will of the people against the rest of the government.
Pundits were quick to point out the potential for the demise of the Republican Party in 2016. And there is a real possibility that this might happen if two things come to pass. Of these the first would be the nomination of a squish or old guard Republican as the presidential candidate which would likely bring about the second; a statistically significant number of conservative minded voters simply refusing to vote on federal candidates abandoning the field to the left.
Boehner and company are probably counting on the electorate to have a short memory and /or to fall for their rhetoric that it was necessary to fund the department for purposes of national security. This is less likely now than at any time in the past because of the effects of Tea Party organizations and local talk radio both of which combine to keep the electorate informed and may play a role on the local level to remedy situations of which they do not approve. Within the last week the Internet has been showered with emails in the Northwest Houston area regarding the serious possibility of finding a capable candidate to take on Michael McCaul for his vote on the DHS funding bill.
This is not to say that a palace revolt will take place. But something resembling one may occur in the near future. Voters of both parties are now realizing that their supposed representatives are treating them with disdain and that the executive branch is no longer interested in what is best for the nation. Even the youth vote which has been a bastion of progressivism for the past half-century or so is turning against big and intrusive government because they realize that it is not operating in their personal best interest as was the preponderant belief for so many years.
The issue that results from this is whether the turn around is fast enough and decisive enough to halt the damage before it becomes permanent. There was one suggestion to the extent that to reverse the damage it might take unconstitutional action by a conservative to restore the system to normalcy; a contradiction in terms if there ever was one.
But what may spell the most important trend in the political arena at present is the move toward increased states rights aside from the potential for an Article 5 convention. Various states have begun doing this by enacting laws decriminalizing marijuana and other similar actions may follow. Texas is asserting rights to control its border with Mexico with respect to both immigration and drug interdiction. An unresponsive and / or hostile federal government may set the stage for broadening of this trend. A confrontation may eventually occur where a state may declare that it simply is not going to follow federal instructions contrary to its own will. The feds will either have to back down raising the old bugaboo of nullification or take on the recalcitrant state which may result in other states following suit or if the state in question had planned for such a future no real effect.
Either way the feds will lose because the result will wreck the original federal system in which the states were designed to be separate and independent entities with the national government acting as the coordinating power for purposes of international relations and for the settlement of interstate disputes. Beyond that the federal government was not intended to go and have if the state appointment of senators had not been replace by popular vote in 1913. The growth of federal power with state interests insufficiently represented in Washington DC was inevitable.
A century later a backlash may be developing. Will it be soon enough or decisive enough to restore individual rights? If the DC crowd get there way it will be nipped in the bud and the road to authoritarianism will continue. Otherwise we may recover and restore the nation to its rightful place as a bastion of liberty for all who support it.