Friday, October 18, 2013

Post Mortem on the Government Shutdown/Debt Ceiling/Obamacare/Screwing Over of the American Taxpayer.

I don't know where to start.  There's just so much going through my mind on this.  I've been reading about and thinking about the fiscal deal for almost 24 hours.  I'm amazed, sad, offended and in a state of disbelief.  I'll start here, I am continually amazed at how the Republican party establishment can screw things up so badly.  Under normal circumstances I would call it incompetence, but it is some much more than that.

Take a look at where we were, where we were going and where we ended up on this whole deal.  We went in to this fight with REAL spending cuts via the Sequester.  You know, the one that was going to end life as we knew it several months ago.  Obamacare on the verge of being implemented, and Obama asking the US taxpayer to go another $1 trillion or so in debt.  Led by the TEA Party, the House of Representatives fought to defund Obamacare.  President Barack Obama refused to negotiate, while accusing the Republicans of not negotiating and "hostage taking."  This led to the government shutdown.  If anyone was expecting the mainstream media to be objective in this, you should know better by now.  While Republicans in the House offered resolution after resolution to fund parts of government Barack Obama and Harry Reid refused to negotiate.  All the while the fifth column media did their part to put this on the TEA Party.  After all the talk of compromise, the House offered it.  It was the Democrats that would not compromise.

If it was not bad enough that the conservatives had to contend with the onslaught from the White House, Reid and the media, the Republican establishment piled on.

What was the grand plan of the Republican Establishment?  Allow Obamacare to be implemented, it's going to fail, we can win elections off of that; and we'll get rid of it later.  That brings me to a pop quiz.  What was the last failed entitlement program to get shut down?  What was the last program to get reformed?  There isn't one.  At all.  Mitch McConnell can't be this stupid, but he's banking on us to be.  The implementation of Obamacare means more people working for the government, more people in unions, more instances of five people doing a job that could be done by one.  All at the expense of the US taxpayer with no value add.  It is also going to mean even more people dependent on government.

Killing Obamacare in 2017 after the great Republican victory for President and by houses of Congress will mean one thing.  Taking entitlements away and cutting federal jobs.  How's that going to work?  What happened when George Bush tried to reform Social Security?  Hell, what happened last weekend when the EBT system was down for a few hours.  No one is going to touch that.  I can see the commercials now about how Rand Paul, or Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz want to take away your healthcare.  Hell they're doing it now.  If the Republican establishment doesn't have the stones for the fight they just had, they aren't going to have the stones to remove Obamacare once (if!) they get a majority and the White House.

As the deadline neared for the supposed default (not really) the Republican establishment wrested the fight from the TEA Party Republicans to show them how it is done.  And boy did they!  The government is back open, and at what cost?  Obamacare lives, debt ceiling is effectively ∞, AND they agreed to do away with the Sequester cuts.  Congratulations!  You just gave Obama EVERYTHING he wanted, and then some.

How could this happen?  Simple.  The Republican establishment views the TEA Party as the enemy.  The TEA Party upsets the status quo.  They loved the TEA Party conservatives in 2010.  In 2011, the TEA Party conservatives took office.  They were not ones to go back on their promises.  They did not want to play the game.  Since that time the Republican Party establishment has thrown its weight behind anyone who will oppose the TEA Party.  

I don't know about you, but come primary season I am voting against the Republican establishment.  In the general, the establishment Republican is running, I'm going Libertarian.

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