Posted on 12/09/2014 11:20:50 AM PST by Starman417
Do you ever wonder sometimes why Americans vote? How many times have you heard people say “I don’t vote because my vote doesn’t really matter, those politicians are going to do what they want regardless of how I vote.” In some cases that’s true. Obamacare was a perfect example. In January 2010 Scott Brown won his campaign for the Senate in deep blue Massachusetts by promising to be the 41st vote against Obamacare. The Democrats didn’t care, and despite the fact that 60% of the American people were opposed to Obamacare, they sidestepped Brown and used “reconciliation” to shove the law down the throats of the American people. As a result, that November the GOP retook the House in a landslide election, but by that point the damage had ever been done. If there was ever an example of politicians doing exactly what they wanted in the face of constituent opposition, Obamacare was it.
So why did citizens reward Democrats in 2012 and send Barack Obama back to work? Because presidential elections are personality driven contests (as opposed to issue driven contests) far more than are midterms, with the presidential candidates generating an unparalleled level of attention. Voters in midterm elections are generally more engaged and more aware of the issues than many who vote in presidential elections. Not sure? How many videos did you see in 2008 where voters could barely name the vice presidential candidates, nevermind the issues or candidates lower down the ticket. That reality repeated itself in 2012 with the cult of Barack Obama. Add to that the fact that Mittens Romney ran a campaign so uninspiring that millions of conservatives didn’t even bother to show up and it’s easy to understand how the country got another 4 years of The One.
Just two years later however, 2014 proved to be 2010 on steroids as the GOP picked up 9 seats in the Senate. Why? Not only had Obamacare proven to be exactly the disaster Republicans had predicted, but more timely was the fact that Barack Obama was basically promising amnesty to 4 million illegal immigrants. For the GOP, the numbers were clear: fully 70% of GOP voters were against Obama’s amnesty and at the end of the day those voters delivered a victory.
But alas, that doesn’t seem to matter. Like the Democrats in 2010 voting for something 60% of the Americans didn’t want, in 2014 the Republican leadership plans to ignore the wishes of 70% of their constituents by surrendering on immigration.
Surrender? That is essentially what the leadership has done as it promises there will be no government shutdown. The purse strings are one of the few checks the legislative branch has on the executive. As such, the primary way Congress can impact what the administration does is by deciding what to fund and what not to fund. In this context, a shutdown would occur when Congress passes a bill to fund the entire government except for those DHS functions involved in the president’s amnesty and then the president vetoes it. No dice say Boehner and McConnell. They are scared that the GOP would be blamed for any shutdown and get hammered in 2016. That’s an illusion, as most of the government would still function, and, frankly, most Americans wouldn’t even notice a shutdown were it not for the bleating of the administration’s media minions. In last year’s shutdown, once it was over a full 78% of Americans reported that they weren’t inconvenienced by the shutdown at all and another 11% felt only minor inconveniences. And a year later the GOP went on to flatten the Democrats in the midterms!
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
The Republican Party is a rotting carcass. My vote is reserved for strict Constitutional Christians.
The republicans have had the House for a while now. They could have not funded Obamacare if they wanted to. They did want to.
All I'm hearing is excuses for bad behavior from the liberal republicans.
/johnny
IMHO, a lot of Democrat trolls are trying to stir up a civil war in the GOP even BEFORE Creepy Harry is flushed out of his “leadership” position.
These air-heads want to persuade us that McConnell has “majority” power even BEFORE the new GOP Senators have taken their seats.
But NO FReeper could be THAT stupid, right?
I'm hearing excuses.
/johnny
IMHO, a lot of Democrat trolls are trying to stir up a civil war in the GOP even BEFORE Creepy Harry is flushed out of his “leadership” position.
Dem trolls? LOL. You cast stones at your fellow freepers. yet you don’t seem to have a problem with the GOP preemptively fully funding the obama agenda this week for an entire year.
Nobody is forcing the GOP to do an omnibus bill now. Conservatives are objecting because now is not the proper time to do it.
The GOP is doing the omnibus spending bill now because they want to fund the obama agenda but don’t want their finger prints on amnesty, obama-boehnercare, etc.
Why can’t you see that?
Wow! Absolute Power!
What next?
Will you be telling me that Obama will obey whatever LAW the House passes — even if the Senate does NOT pass it — or even if Obama vetoes that very same spending LAW?
Will you be telling me that YOU believe that Obama is “law-abiding”?
Saaayyy, Johnny....
Are YOU really Eric Holder?
The republican house can choose not to fund obamacare and amnesty now, not January, and there isn't a damn thing reid or obama can do about it.
No money, no program.
More excuses from the pro-gop crowd that wants another excuse to NOT do what they promised they would do.
Looks like you are supporting Obamacare and Amnesty since you want to claim the republicans can't do anything about it.
/johnny
I did not leave the GOP left me and million of conservatives without a party.
A part that represents us. How do like this Cromulus bill Bonehead is about to
ram thru with the help of RATs?
Yup, and the main result of exercising that power now by shutting down the government will be lots of news stories about poor Federal workers furloughed at Christmastime and unable to pay for presents for their kids because they aren’t getting paid.
We know from past experience how this works. Last years shutdown worked because it ended just as Healthcare.gov was collapsing. Shutting down the government isn’t enough. There needs to be a plan, a workable plan, to politically exploit the shutdown in order to win. And not have that win be pyrric.
Shutting down Obamacare and amnesty IS the plan.
The whole plan.
Those that don't want to are taking advice of their fears.
/johnny
/johnny
All I want is a plan to win the politics of the shutdown.
The fact that the last shutdown was the Dummycrats fault matters not. The problem isn't whose fault it is - the problem is that the GOP has no clue how to wage political war. You're waiting for something that'll never happen. The bottom line? The House needs to vote NOW to defund these programs, and let the Senate knock it down and shut the government down. If you'll recall, the GOP got the blame for the last shutdown, and not even a year later had a landslide election. Get over it. Defund those programs, or shut it down. Period.
the shutdown didn’t matter in the landslide election because the collapse of healthcare.gov validated the GOPs stance on Obamacare.
Where’s the two part of the one-two punch going to come from this time around?
Even if it were true that a shut down directed blame at Republicans (which I think the people know better of today), you still have to stand for something.
LOL!
You are fine with Obamacare and Amnesty if it doesn't cost your party anything.
The Republican party can go the way of the Whigs for all I care.
/johnny
We wait for the new Congress. New House passes funding bill that defunds amnesty & obolacare. New Senate passes same. Obola vetos, and down they go. But, the fact is the GOP is too spineless...too weak...to do what needs to be done. Which is why I'll not vote for another, until they grow some balls. That's not going to happen as long as Boehner and McConnell are at the helm. They need to go, at all costs, along with every other rotten stinking filthy RINO, even if it means the D's take over.
Need I go on?
So, they have been given the majority, and it looks like they will use there new found power to advance the liberal agenda. But, we won...
Trent Lott would not be bad mouthing Ted Cruz if the Conservative were not gaining power. Just because Chris McDaniel barely lost, is no reason to give up now. We are battling for control of the Republican Party in order to put forward our agenda. Rejoice in the little victories (Eric Cantor), after bitter defeats (like McDaniel) you pick yourself up and keep fighting until you breathe your last, You either pledge your life, fortune, and sacred honor, or you don't -
Never Ever Ring the Bell.
Conservatives will vote based on FACTS and ACTIONSIf the country is split R/D practically right down the middle, then (and I'm being optimistic here) Conservatives may account for 30% on the R side. I say that because for just two examples (and you can think of more) entire states of voters in OH and KY turned into mouth-breathing morons and re-elected Boehner and McConnell. Heck, it may be even less than 30%...
The point being, conservatives need to do A LOT more than just "go vote".
Everybody here is belly-achin' about who's a RINO or Conservative or whatever and it's all a bunch of bull-butter.
We need to increase the conservative influence in Washington.
Can that be done with a DEM majority in either house?
Can that be done by idiot voters re-electing the likes of Boehner & McConnell?
How do we cut the GOPe off at the knees?
How do we cut the MSM off at the knees?
The answer to all of the above (I believe) is two-pronged:
1. Short term: Find, recruit and get on the ballot conservatives who are natural leaders and can *communicate* why they are the better choice, despite the deck being stacked against them by the Dems, MSM and GOPe. Easier said than done and I have no idea how to do it. But it is *clearly* needed.
2. Start educating and growing the next generation of conservatives. We didn't get here overnight and it will take a few generations (at least, maybe more) to turn the country around from the brink. I don't think it will happen in my lifetime, if it happens at all. No one is going to give it to us. We will have to take it.
Blowing off steam is theraputic to an extent. But at some point, leaders need to arise and BY GOD LEAD! That's one of the big problems I see with the Tea Party; there's no one to rally around. It's headless. For that matter, who do conservatives have to rally on? Why can't we coalesce and stop being so darned rudderless and at each other's throats all the time?
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