Posted on 12/19/2014 7:58:42 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
For many conservatives, agreeing with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is a rare occurrence. Warren is a pure collectivist who views strong government control as a critical mechanism for politicians to "improve" the lives of Americans as they see fit. Her liberal voting record and view that individual financial success creates a social obligation to pay heavy taxes reinforce those perspectives.
Yet, in her recent opposition to federal spending legislation, Warren correctly noted that reinstituting federal insurance for riskier financial products like credit default swaps was a concession to the largest banks in America contrary to the interests of most taxpayers. Credit default swaps caused significant damage in the most recent recession. But for taxpayer-funded bailouts, companies like AIG would likely have failed because of their derivative exposure.
"If big Wall Street banks want to gamble with their own money, so be it," said Warren. "Let them take their risks with their own money, and let them live with the consequences of those risks. That is how markets are supposed to work."
Wait a minute. How is a Massachusetts liberal sounding like a free market conservative?
For many liberals, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seems to be little more than a "Cruz" missile specifically targeted at the federal government. Berated for his hardball tactics and persistent interest in picking policy fights, Cruz believes that Washington has failed America. "The rules of the game [in Washington, D.C.] have resulted in bankrupting our kids and grandkids, and seeing our constitutional liberties eroded, and enough is enough," Cruz noted.
If he had not blistered his establishment colleagues enough, Cruz drove home the point:
"You look at this omnibus that just passed Congress. It's 1.1 trillion dollars of every payoff for special interest, for lobbyists, for K Street, all of them got taken care of, it was the perfect example of Washington corruption. But you know the people who were not taken care of is the working men and women, the millions of conservatives, grassroots activists, who showed up and gave Republicans the majority."
Was that a Republican railing against corporate cronyism to protect working Americans?
Then Alabama's Jeff Sessions asked a particularly pointed question, "Why can't Americans get representation in their own Senate?"
Perhaps that question is the driving force for the growing populist movement challenging Washington's establishment culture. Americans have reached the breaking point with Washington's bipartisan oligarchy. Who do members of Congress actually represent?
For many voters, a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" has felt more like a government of the powerful, by the politicians, for the connected. Rarely are the interests of the average American served by having their tax dollars subsidize, favor, bailout, or insure large corporations, unions or interest groups. Yet those entities always seem to be at the front of the line when it comes to government spending, regulation and tax treatment.
Certainly their interests should be considered, but how do they balance out against the attention legislators pay to their average constituent.
For Warren, Cruz and Sessions, the answer is relatively clear. They represent the voters who sent them to Washington. Each acts for a significantly different type of voter, but each is more interested in garnering favor with the people back home than with Washington's power brokers. They all understand the simmering outrage of voters who feel that their elected representatives have largely left them behind.
The question is whether the emerging class of populist politicians will be able to channel that outrage into a positive force that allows them to actually change Washington. Defiant protests and political fights may inspire their political bases, but they must also be able to band together and reach legislative compromises that benefit the common American.
Warren, Cruz, and Sessions may have lost their battle against the recent omnibus, but they are far from finished. In fact, the rise of the populists may very well continue as an incoming class of legislators thinks long and hard about whom they truly represent.
I might add that these words, "Her liberal voting record and view that individual financial success creates a social obligation to pay heavy taxes reinforce those perspectives. would seem laudable from a perspectives of liberals practicing what they preach.
But from what I've read about her, the last thing this RICH liberal has done is to pay her fair share of taxes. To the contrary, she has used every trick in the book to gain access, privilege and exclusion from that pesky tenet.
♬One of these things is not like the others....♬
I am convinced, that the only way to restore our Constitutional government, is for a group of Patriots to hold public trials of politicians, on the internet and then carry out the verdict.
No politicians are ever going to give up the power they now hold to go back to serving the public and protecting our rights.
Just my opinion.
Lone Star Planet, by H. Beam Piper. Published 1958.
Cruz and Sessions aren’t populists. They’re conservatives. And Warren is a left wing kook who happens to be correct on this issue.
Watch for the media to pick up this “populist” meme so that they can further confuse the public about conservative positions.
By Jan 2016, Warren is gonna be characterized by the MSM as a sweet Native American grandma fighting for the rights of the middle class against evil Wall $treet and Banks.
Very surprising, pleasing and refreshing to see this term used by a U.S. Senator. The Club Members will not be happy. That's good. That's why we like this guy so much.
Warren is the ultimate Marxist so how can she change anything?
Pray America is waking
“a government of the powerful, by the politicians, for the connected”
Yep, that’s what we have.
” For Warren, Cruz and Sessions, the answer is relatively clear. They represent the voters who sent them to Washington.”
Yep
Warren = Leftist MASSholes.
Cruz & Sessions = conservatives.
Because a democrat would never put corporate interests before those of the middle class.
Gimme a break. Democrats stopped being the party of the 'little guy' 50 years ago.
I never claimed I was the first to come up with the solution, I am only stating what I, and others in Maine’s patriot movement, believe.
I am convinced, that the only way to restore our Constitutional government, is for a group of Patriots to hold public trials of politicians, on the internet and then carry out the verdict.
No politicians are ever going to give up the power they now hold to go back to serving the public and protecting our rights.
Just my opinion.
Good point.
The politicians can't rely on the uninformed whimsical voting public that can change on a dime election to election.
The people who put their money into backing them, and paving the way for their election success, by money and other means, are far more reliable.
Getting re-elected is the name of the game, not necessarily serving a fickle shallow constituency. - Tom
The only way to change Washington is to cut off its air supply - i.e. money.
They were never the party of the little guy. No such party has ever existed in any government on Earth since we left the caves.
“From my perspective, Warren was just trying to conveniently identify a boogie-man she could use as a scapegoat to implement her socialist ideology. Comparing her thoughts and words on this with anything Cruz has to say is, frankly, pointless.”
I think both Warren and Cruz are trying, at times, to address the issue of crony capitalism. But, each has their own solution. Warren wants to eliminate crony capitalism by making the government larger. Cruz wants to eliminate crony capitalism by reducing the size of government. As government becomes smaller, it will be less important for businesses to try to control it.
Elizabeth Warren is not in any way a populist. She is a product of the Harvard elite establishment. She used a phony native American claim to get affirmative action quota status.
Her attacks on banks is just one of her many attacks on American businesses. She attacks all American institutions
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