How Broken Is Washington?

That is the question that tbascom of The Liberty Ledger is asking.  He has 5 answers to that question denouncing both parties for the quagmire that is business in our nation's capital.

So, just how broken is Washington? Let me count some ways:

1. We’re getting news reports that Republican leaders are suggesting to high-value donors that a resurgent Republican Party will not pursue repeal of Obamacare. That’s being roundly denied by official statements from key Republican leaders, like McConnell and Corker. But here’s the sign of how broken Washington has become: I can’t automatically believe the denials, or trust the Republicans to pursue repeal – even if they say they will. There’s been so much lying, on both sides of the aisle, that my trust is broken. Increasingly, I think that career politicians and federal bureaucrats make up one party regardless of the “D,” “R,” or “I” after their names, and we who want limited federal government, increased state power, greater liberty, and economic freedom make up a different party, regardless of the “D,” “R,” or “I” after our names. (Those who want to be taken care of by the government and are willing to trade personal and economic liberty to get it are not really a third party, so much as the willing dupes of the career politician party.)

2. Today, a Politico analyst on the Morning Joe show said the Republican leadership’s ideal scenario would be for a strong showing, but to fall short of a majority in the Senate because that would allow the Republican Party to mount a powerful opposition but would not put them in a position to actually stop the policies and laws that offend so many American citizens. As a consequence, the fervor would grow for a significant Republican blow-out in 2012. For the same reason, the Democrats would prefer a small Republican majority, large enough to be responsible for anything that doesn’t work until 2012, but too small to overturn a presidential veto. Their hope is that such a situation will lead to a restoration of Democrat power and a re-election of Obama in 2012. Clearly, this is a sign of Washington brokenness: both parties are exercising a cynicism that locks out the American public, and like the Democrats we are rejecting, the Republicans may well be more concerned with their own long-term power than with taking on the wrongheadedness of the current administration and the Democrat party. I cannot trust the Republicans to do the right thing. Even should they win the blow-out they seek for 2012, I have no automatic confidence that they will then act to reverse the damaging laws and policies enacted by the Obama regime. Instead, their power-oriented cynicism suggests they will do what consolidates their power rather than what is in the interests of the Constitution and the people they purportedly represent.

3. Even if the Republicans gain a majority in both Houses next month, the historic tendency of the Republican Party is to seek compromises with the Democrats. They want to be the party of “civility” that “goes along to get along.” The problem is that any compromise with Democrats requires increased regulation and decreased individual liberty, economic freedom, and localism. That’s because Democrats are always looking to increase the centralization of power; so when the Republicans compromise with them it means sacrificing some degree of Constitutional rights. How incredibly broken is it that I cannot trust that Republicans, given power, will act to reduce federal consolidation of power and restore the rights of individuals, local communities and states? This is why Republican representatives, especially of the conservative strand, are always at a disadvantage in the call for “bipartisanship,” and why Republicans have to be leaders, not functionaries: we need leaders who can articulate the problem of compromising with plans to increase federal authority and who can lead the nation toward those founding values that have made the U.S. unique among the nations of the world. I have no confidence that the current Republican leadership is made up of such people.

Finish reading here.

I do hope that you will read the entire posting.  I have a feeling that Republicans are taking the Tea Party for granted and believe they can ignore us after the election in November.