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Or is this better?

Liberals in Congress and the media are worried that the GOP actually plans on fighting the Democrat socialist agenda.

Jennifer Steinhauer and Robert Pear lamented in the New York Times:

The health care law, entitlement programs, new limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from oil refineries and power plants, and other legislation that Republicans say cannot be justified by a strict interpretation of the Constitution — a document the new leaders plan to read on the House floor on Thursday — are all in the cross hairs.

While President Obama and Republicans were able to work together during last month’s lame-duck session — to the vocal consternation of the most partisan ends of each party’s base — to pass a tax package and a variety of last-minute legislation, including the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and the ratification of the anti-nuclear proliferation treaty with Russia, such bipartisan consensus seems unlikely at the outset of the new House session.

Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, who is in line to succeed Ms. Pelosi, has said that this time around he would lead efforts to revive the private sector by reducing the size of government — cutting federal regulation, taxes and spending, including the budget of Congress itself.

Mr. Boehner also said Republicans would alter House rules to make it easier to curb government spending and to require more public disclosure about the work of the House.

House Republicans plan on passing a full repeal of Obamacare as a symbolic act, acknowledging that it will be stopped in the Senate, or vetoed by the President. However, after setting the tone, the GOP plans on defunding and dismantling Obamacare piece by piece. Additionally, with Paul Ryan’s Road Map the GOP is finally starting to talk about realistic entitlement reforms.

Fueled by a reverence for the Constitution and an acknowledgment of reality, Republicans won in 2010 by representing the alternative to Obamunism. If the Grand Old Party wishes to remain in power surrender is not an option.

Mitch McConnell stated that his foremost political priority is ensuring that Barack Obama is a one-term president. Republicans are openly stating that they plan on using Obamacare as an albatross to hang around Democrats in 2012. The only way to fix the economy, and the country, is to get government out of the way. The only way to get government out of the way is to defeat Democrats. The GOP, at long last, is ready to play hardball.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats believe that a renewed debate over Obamacare will actually help them. The Left believes that the only problem with Obama’s government takeover of healthcare is the branding. If only the American people really understood how great Obamacare is, they’d support the monstrosity.The fights over Obamacare, and liberty, are fights the GOP should welcome, and decisively win.

The legislative plan for the GOP is quite simple; Barry Goldwater spelled it out in 1960:

I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is `needed’ before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents “interests,” I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.

For a modern interpretation “Undo It” works:

The sad fact is that Senate Republicans have been complicit in allowing awful legislation to pass. Lindsey Graham, yes, that Lindsey Graham, actually excoriated his own party for caving in to the Democrats unnecessarily:

“When it’s all going to be said and done, Harry Reid has eaten our lunch,” Graham said on Fox News radio. “This has been a capitulation in two weeks of dramatic proportions of policies that wouldn’t have passed in the new Congress.”

Republican senators have broken with the party’s leaders on several key votes in order to advance some of President Obama’s top policies during the lame-duck. GOP members defected to pass a repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” and have done likewise to secure likely ratification for the START Treaty. Some Republicans might allow a health bill for 9/11 first responders to move forward, while three Republicans voted to end debate on the DREAM Act, an ultimately unsuccessful immigration bill…

“I can understand the Democrats being afraid of the new Republicans; I can’t understand Republicans being afraid of the new Republicans,” Graham lamented on WTMA radio. “They’re not opportunities to take everything you couldn’t do for two years and jam it. It’s literally what they’re doing, across the board. And after a while, I stop blaming them, and I blame us.”

When Lindsey Graham is faulting the GOP for caving in to the Democrats…

The fact that the Democrats have completely ignored the will of the people and pursued their radical agenda is to be expected. That Republicans have repeatedly capitulated is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, there are still too many Republicans who want to go along to get along. They have no real belief in reform. In fact, some Republicans actually fear and disdain the reform movement. The elitists within the party still look down on the ‘uncouth’ Tea Party.

Because President Obama pursued such a radical agenda in his first two years in office, the GOP wilderness years were cut short. While it was of the utmost importance to block the Democrats, the Republicans quick return to power has allowed some of the deadwood to stay in place.

In 2010 the Tea Party movement stayed within the Republican Party. The energy that they provided launched the GOP to victory. If the Grand Old Party wants to keep the movement together, elected officials better realize that the time for compromises, in which Republicans acquiesce to Democrats is over. Now is the time for bold, conservative leadership.

The move to rush through the DREAM ACT illustrates that the Democrats understand that it was their agenda that was rejected by the voters this year. The Democrats are aware of the fact that most Americans reject their socialist vision. Instead of trying to convince the American people that socialism works, the Democrats want to legalize millions of new Democrat voters.

The Democratic Party is at war with the American way of life. They reject and want to disown the legacy and style of government drawn up by the Founders. In place of the Constitution, the Left wants to move in the direction of Western European socialism. In fact, that it exactly what Howard Dean said in his post-election analysis.

While the Democrats have done their best to “fundamentally transform” the United States, they have reached the limit. This November, voters put up a wall. The voting public saw the direction the Democrats were marching in and said a resounding ‘NO!’ to socialism. Democrats are many things, but politically incapable they are not. They see the writing on the wall. They were routed in the midterms, President Obama’s approval rating is stuck in the 40s, 26% of voters think the President will be reelected, and only 38% think Obama should be reelected. Not too much to be optimistic about for Democrats in 2012.

What if the Democrats could add a few million voters to the rolls in time for the election? That is what amnesty is about. It is a pure political calculation by the Democrats. The Democrats believe that the newly legalized voters will be another exploitable constituency. That is why the Democrats are champing at the bit to rush through amnesty, an immensely unpopular policy, in a Congress that has already lost the confidence of the American people.

I am no fan of Senator Murkowski – I had hoped that Joe Miller would win. Alas, he did not. I am not about to support an Al Franken style theft from Alaskan citizens. They voted – she won. Republicans should not try to reverse a clear win through the courts.

What’s done is done. The result sucks – but we have to stick with it. That’s how the system’s supposed to work.

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Strictly Right Radio episode 70

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]]> http://strictlyright.com/2010/11/strictly-right-radio-episode-70/feed/ 2 http://strictlyright.com/2010/11/rand-paul-sets-the-conservative-tone/ http://strictlyright.com/2010/11/rand-paul-sets-the-conservative-tone/#comments Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:32:03 +0000 Strictly Right http://strictlyright.com/?p=3008 Continue reading →]]> Of all the fantastic news from last week, near the top is the fact that Rand Paul will be in the United States Senate come January.

In his brilliant acceptance speech, Senator-elect Paul detailed the inexorable link between freedom and capitalism. Paul pointed out that the United States that is the freest and most developed nation in human history. Furthermore, Paul explained that the wealth and freedom that the United States enjoys is nothing to apologize for, a message lost on President Obama. In that vein, Paul excoriated the President for traveling abroad and denigrating his own country, and the its free market system. Unlike President Obama, Rand Paul has a firm belief in American Exceptionalism.

Additionally, Paul detailed why it is harmful to bailout broke institutions, be they socialist countries, or insolvent banks. Rand Paul actually understands that the country is out of money. His willingness to stand-up for fiscal sanity is a much needed addition to the United States Congress.

Rand Paul’s embrace of the Tea Party ensures that there will be another movement conservative in the Senate. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that anyone related to Ron Paul (love him or hate him) will be co-opted by the GOP establishment. Look for Senator Paul to be a bare-knuckles brawler for common sense, Constitutional conservatism for many years to come.

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For the first time in years, House lawmakers will soon have the chance to vote on a standalone measure to increase the federal debt limit next year under the new Republican majority — a vote that’s shaping up as the first early test of the GOP’s commitment to spending restraint.

The House Republican leader, Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, will give lawmakers a chance for a direct vote on raising the debt limit, spokesman Michael Steel told the Washington Times.

That would be a break with the recent tactic of burying the debt limit increase in parliamentary maneuvers — a way to shield vulnerable lawmakers from having to take the unpopular vote — and would instantly give leverage to those in Congress hoping to impose immediate spending cuts.

Speaker-elect Boehner is promising that there will be a standalone vote on raising the debt ceiling, which is currently $14.3 Trillion. If the measure fails, the Treasury Department will not be permitted to issue any more debt (borrow any more money). Not raising the debt limit would force Congress to live within its means. Without additional debt, Congress would be forced to adopt serious spending cuts. Essentially, Washington would be forced to acknowledge that they are out of money.

The last time a war over the debt limit was waged was in the wake of the 1994 Republican Revolution. 15 years ago, Republicans tried to force President Clinton to make serious cuts in entitlement spending, by far the most costly, and politically radioactive, segment of the federal budget.

If President Obama, like President Clinton, refuses to pass a GOP budget, we could be looking at another government shutdown. Only, this time the GOP will be in a much better position to defend their position. The 2010 election was abut stopping Obama, and stopping out of control spending. A fight over raising the debt ceiling is a perfect opportunity for the GOP to contrast themselves with reckless Democrats.

A vote to raise the debt limit with no strings attached, as has been the practice in Washington, is a vote to continue spending the nation off a cliff. By making this vote a standalone vote, as opposed to slipping it in with another bill, Speaker Boehner will force members of Congress to go on the record with this issue. The transparency and apparent willingness to fight are both extremely promising sign from the new Congressional majority.