The House Rs are an embarrassment to this country.
This is the absolute truth. Once again the republican politicians have proven that they have no spine. In the process of backing down from the democrat bullies, they have surrendered this country to the regressive central power structure that defines all tyrannical governments of the past.
The symbol of the GOP should be changed from the elephant to the fainting goat.
The Republicans were winning. But they believed the leftist media when they said they were losing. The past few weeks demonstrated exactly why an extensive central government is unreliable and dangerous. It doesn't matter whose fault it was. It doesn't matter whether Obama acted like a spiteful child or that the republicans acted like a bunch of french capitulators. It wouldn't matter if the events were caused by a budget shortfall or a glitch in a software program. What matters is that it is a single point of failure in a system that does not require any central control and certainly doesn't require any federal government involvement. When the various memorials in Washington DC were closed down for no logical reason, it illustrated perfectly that the threats to a government system that is centrally controlled, go beyond economic, beyond faulty technology, beyond war and terrorism. Now the threats include presidents acting like a petulant child. When this happened, it should have been a wake up call to everyone, liberal and conservative alike, that when we give the government power to provide services to us, we give them the power to take them away.
One of the things that the government took away was our right to go on public lands. Public lands are "our" land, so it is a natural right that we should have passage. But to go on the Mt Whitney trail here in California (something I do somewhat frequently), you need a permit. And of course, the permit office has been closed for the past couple of weeks. Which you would think "hey! no big deal. If they furloughed the ranger in the permit office, then heck, who's gonna stop me from hiking the trail?" Well, the answer should be obvious. By requiring a permit, they made it against the law to hike on the trail without permission. So they have taken away a natural right, but then they give it back to us piecemeal through permits. They have no replaced a fundamental natural right with a government assigned right. And if they give you a right, they can take it away. So, back to the story. Head on up to the Whitney Portal and you will pass a couple of campgrounds that are operated and maintained by volunteers....they are closed. You will also pass some summer cabins that are privately owned. (actually, they are on a 99 year lease, but either way, they are paid for). The owners of the cabins are not allowed to stay in them. The Whitney Portal Store, which is owned and operated by a private citizen....that's closed too. He obviously doesn't need any federal employees to operate his business, but because it is on federal property, they shut him down. Oh well, I'm a self sufficient guy, I don't need anything from the store. Start hiking and.....a Ranger? But, but, but....if the government is shut down and they furloughed the ranger at the permit office....why are there any rangers up here working? Well, the petulant child in the white house couldn't make his statement if they couldn't prove that they not only gave us the rights, but that they can take them away at any time if we didn't do what he said. So, he made sure that he had a way to enforce the laws that took away our natural right to be on our land. He didn't furlough the rangers who hand out tickets if you don't have a permit....which you can't have because the shut down the permit office. A single point of failure in a system that I not only don't need, but that prevents me from doing what I have the natural right to do in the first place. Is there any further evidence needed to prove that we absolutely can't have government providing essential services that can be more efficiently provided by the free market in the first place!?!?
And the Republican politicians flinched knowing what this is going to cost this country. The old guard republican politicians are cowards. The people showed them that they were behind them. They tore down the barrycades and actually got out there and demonstrated. And the republican politicians backed away from the fight anyway.
I had a friend who did a little prison time (a little stint for selling a couple of keys of cocaine...long time ago). Anyway, she was in her 20s, educated, blonde, attractive....not your standard prisoner profile. First day, another prisoner took a quarter from her. Seriously, just a quarter. But she knew that even though it was just a quarter, if she didn't fight for it, everyone would know that she was a mark. That anybody could make her their bitch. She challenged the other girl and got her to back down before punches were thrown (or, more realistically, but much more sexist, "before hair was pulled"). My friend declared in that one action that she wasn't a mark. She wasn't anybody's bitch.
The House Republicans are now Obama's bitches. Obama knows that they'll hand that quarter over every single time now.
Congratulations, you won. You won the last dying years of a once great country. I have no doubt that we (royal "we", not including me, but definitely including you), will get the government we deserve.
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