How many times have the Republicans voted to repeal it?
The problem is pretty simple. Conservatives can control the House agenda, but any serious reform will be filibustered in the Senate; it would be vetoed by Obama were McConnell somehow able to muster 60 votes, but the fact is, Obama has been able to hide behind the filibuster wall.
This means the only potential lever available to the Republicans in Congress is the power of the purse. And that brings us straight to the politics of the CR, and the question of whether Republicans can win the politics of the next government shutdown. Anyone want to place bets on that?
There is one other great disorienting factor, and that is the astonishing acquiescence of the courts to Obama's breathtaking administrative overreach. From non-enforcement of the immigration laws to multiple issues on Obamacare to his environmental agenda, Obama has asserted sweeping powers far in excess of what any observers thought possible just a few years ago. He's been slapped down a few times, but the courts, by and large, have said, "You just go right ahead." Republicans in Congress are struggling to hold the line, while the whole judicial flank has collapsed. We are about an inch from Caesarism, and a politicized judiciary is playing along.
I do not know if we can win the presidency in 2016. The old models would say we should, but the old America is going down before the wave of immigration, and too many states are simply out of reach unless we can get 30-40 percent of the Hispanic vote. But should we win, and should the next Republican president try to roll back some of Obama's administrative overreach, I have no doubt that politicized, activist liberal judges will issue injunctions before the ink is dry on the executive orders. The left now openly embraces double standards and no longer practices traditional civic politics, and a fair number of activist judges are raw partisans.
In other words, we are experiencing a crisis of legitimacy. The next step is widespread civil disobedience. And the question would then become whether some of the governors would interpose.
I truly believe that to be the case ... and am preparing accordingly. And after that comes bloodshed. Lots of bloodshed.
There is no voting our way out of this.