Friday, December 13, 2013

The House Budget Deal Reveals The Real Intent Of The Political Class: To Create An Illusion

Boehner Hoping To Remain Leader Of Republican Parties...The Onion




  • Not long ago, I quoted Groucho Marx when he once said, "Those are my principles. Well, if you don't like them, I have others." That quote is an apt description of today's Republican Party---feckless, spineless and cowardly. It also describes the nation's political class as well.
  • This was reinforced yesterday with the overwhelming approval of  budget framework passed in the U.S. House yesterday. Nearly equal numbers of Democrats (163) supported the agreement as did Republicans (169).
  • So what made these useless politicians so proud? By avoiding another government shutdown, the deal saves a "whopping" $26B over the next 10 years or the equivalent of 10 Obamacare web sites. It also includes $22.5B in deficit reduction (Wow!!! Time to party). But as disturbing?---it sets fiscal 2014 overall federal spending at $1.01 trillion and 2015 federal spending at $1.04 trillions.
  • In other words, the only conclusion one can come to is the political class inside the Beltway believes there is no economic crisis. They want us to believe that all is well. As I wrote some months ago after the shutdown ended, all of this is an illusion created by the political class to divert our attention from all the problems they created (Keep in mind, we keep voting in the very people who created the problems in the first place---to fix the problems. We're as much to blame for this corruption). This after we've been deluged with cronyism, gridlock, corruption, lies begetting lies, phony transparency and artificial negotiations.
  • The Democrats know they have the Republicans by the short hairs. They know the feckless Republicans don't want to be viewed as the "bad cop" again. The Democrats, on the other hand, have nothing to fear because they have a complicit media on their side.
  • Once again, as they did during the shutdown, the Republican establishment took shots at the conservatives and the Tea Party. If you recall, conservatives and the Tea Party were described as hostage takers, crazy and anarchists by both parties. As they did then, they caved again. At the time, the president got away with not negotiating. In other words, the president said it's my way or the highway. The Republicans decided to avoid the highway. It was at that precise point conservatives became politically homeless as a result of the feckless behavior of the Republicans.
  • Boehner exhibited his spinelessness again yesterday when he declared conservative were "misleading their followers." Memo to Boehner: we can read. He also added, "Frankly, I just think they've lost all credibility." Memo To Boehner: Your fake tan lines are showing.
  • All of this and more proves a point I've made over and over again. It's not about Republican vs. Democrat or Liberal vs. Conservative---it's about the Political Class vs. The People. Ronald Reagan got it right when he said, "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." Unfortunately, it appears we never learn that lesson.