Dakota Beacon

Did you EVER think you would see so many angry Americans banding together?  Lifelong union members, tea party activists, nurses, physicians, small mom-and-pops shop owners, business leaders – all united in their fury at and hatred of one single item:  Obamacare.  Unlike in Shakespeare’s dramas, we don’t need a Mark Anthony, we don’t need a Henry V.  The anger is palpable.  We know what is being done to us.  We don’t need these “sophisticated” Beltway aristocrats prating about “strategy”.  If you’re like me, you have probably had just about enough of the discussion of “tactics” with regard to Obamacare. 

On the one hand we have Conservatives and generally sane thinkers led by Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, who see this – quite rightly – as our best and perhaps our last chance to get rid of this poisonous curse on America.  With the need of the Senate Democrats to have a bill from the Republican-controlled House upon which to act in order to keep the old “wheels of government” greased and turning, there is a golden opportunity to use the power vested in the House by our Constitution to steer this nation in a new and safer direction.  The road down which we have been barreling at top speed since sometime in 2008 is narrowing and the cliff at the end of it is heaving into view by now. 

Of course, Cruz’s and Lee’s detractors among Democrats, but especially among RINOs, point out with great persistence the so-called “pitfalls” of taking leadership seriously.  There are all these “risks”, you see, when one stands up.  In Japan there is a saying – most of us have heard it – that the nail that sticks up gets pounded down.  Maybe that works in Japan, maybe not.  We know how it plays out here in America.  So far, anyway.  It has generally resolved itself into a one-party system, the moderate Democrats (i.e., the Republicans who know they are failing to do the right things but don’t think it is “wise” or “tactically advantageous” to be the nail that gets pounded down) and the true believer Democrats (who have every intention of taking us deeply into a socialist society with no road back).  This has not worked out well. 

The benefits of a two-party system would seem too obvious to explain, but we can sum it up by saying it is the only way for a majority of Americans to decide our fate.  Third parties are legendary losers, no matter how sound their issues, nor compelling their candidates, nor how well-funded their coffers, nor how desperately the other two parties have let everyone down.  Third parties are not useful in our political system, except to derail the party in opposition to the party doing the dirt.  It always works out this way, always has.  It seems that for some time now, though, we have had no need of a third party to perform this service for the Democrats.  We are well-stocked with RINOs who are more than willing to destroy the Republican Party from within.  They take their work seriously.  Just watch the “Republicans” who are asked to comment on TV.  It has been said by more than one sage that we’d be in a different world if they would attack Democrats and Socialists with the venom they use on Conservatives.  Trouble is, they don’t see Democrats as the opposition any more.  They see Conservatives, Libertarians and Constitutionalists as the “opposition”.

These destroyers are hard at work.  Some of us got a look at them over the weekend on FOX News.  I hope it was a good enough look to disabuse everyone of the notion that that network is anything but another organ of the socialist programmers and make it absolutely clear that that network is no “Conservative alternative”, for we heard nothing there but bashing of the rare glimpse of leadership squeezed out of Speaker John Boehner on the effort to defund Obamacare.

Oh, my God!  We can’t let these renegade Republicans “shut down the Government!!” because some crazy Tea Party people have them cornered and are scaring them!  We can’t take a chance on government run by the people who have been burning up the phone lines to their Congressmen as they receive their notices of lay-offs, reduced benefits and cut hours of work or the imminent loss of their businesses.  We must let the “cooler heads” of the Beltway Elite stay in charge of this.  We can’t risk closing a few national parks – especially now that summer vacation is over.  Better to let Joe Sixpack lose his hat and what’s behind him.  I have had about all I can stomach of these “analysts” and their phony posturing in the way of “tactical” considerations.  We know they aren’t affected as you and I and Joe S. are.  We know they’re all out of touch with reality – after all, they live in rural Northern Virginia and never see the rest of America, places like Ohio, where the world-famous Cleveland Clinic just announced last week that 3,000 jobs are being cut so they can afford to process the Obamacare paperwork.  That’s jobs of people who provided healthcare, guys.  Doctors, nurses, technicians, etc.  The people you depend on when you’re sick.  No room for them on the ledger any more.  This is happening across America.  The last place it will hit will be the good old Beltway.

These people have many excuses.  “It’s the Law of the Land!”  “It’s Obama’s signature legislation!”  To this I say, with due reflection, “So what?”  Americans might profit here – especially the “Americans”
 we find on FOX – to read a little history.  Our nation did not have to wait long for a test of “signature legislation” to see how it played out when the “law of the land” was unconstitutional.  In our second president’s one term, Revolutionary hero, President John Adams, was persuaded that circumstances in the new, young republic, were rife with dangers from foreign powers.  He had his reasons, to be sure.  We were not yet a strong country, we faced many threats.  His particular answer was the Alien and Sedition Act.  He thought it was necessary to protect the country.  It happened to be outside the boundaries of the Constitution in that it involved spying on citizens and shutting down their First Amendment rights.  (Sound familiar?)  It didn’t hold up.  Never mind that it was the “Law of the Land” or that it was a true hero’s “signature legislation”.  Indeed, this alone was just about all it took to topple his presidency, much less hold on as a weight on our freedom in America.  John Adams had proven his patriotism in years of service and at the peril of loss of life, long before he ever became president.  One might think his “signature” on legislation more significant than that of the feckless Chicago community organizer’s, but it wasn’t enough to compromise the Constitution.  I guess back then they had a better acquaintance with the real law of the land.

So, back to the present.  It would seem, I think, to any real strategist or tactician, that the Republican House leadership is in an enviable position.  They have passed and sent to the Senate a continuing resolution to fund the government, excluding only Obamacare.  Now, if these were Democrats and not Republicans, they would see this.  Ted Cruz sees it anyway, despite being a Republican.  Here’s what I would do if I were John Boehner, having at long last finally taken a stand on this.  I would say to Harry Reid, “Harry, here’s the deal.  We just sent you our best offer.  We have funded EVERYTHING but Obamacare.  We just aren’t going to fund that one.  Wait until 2015 and try it on a new House.  In the meantime, we’ll just do as Senator Cruz suggests.  We’ll send you a separate funding bill on each item.  However, we will take the time to get really picky.  Don’t expect to see the EPA funding bill for a while, nor the funding for the Department of Education, and don’t look for funding for any UN activities for a long, long time.  We’ll focus – and quite rightly and with the approval of the American people – on the most important issues first.  Here’s our first bill – Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.  Are you going to fund it or not fund it?  Next:  Here’s our bill funding the military.  Are you going to fund this one or not?  We’ll just work out way down to the pet projects and departments slowly and with the deliberation they deserve. “ 

If Boehner does this he will have slammed the ball into the Democrat Senate’s court.  If they decide not to fund Medicare or the military, let them defend that.  Let them hold vital funding hostage to their Obamacare.  See how this plays in 2014.

Those who are under the impression that the people need a stronger dose of Obamacare – people like Krauthammer, for example – who believe that we need to fully implement this monster in order to persuade the people how bad it is – miss the fact that the people already know.  That’s why they are furiously calling their Congressmen and Senators to yell at them to defund Obamacare.  That’s why the Longshoremen walked out on their union.  We know.  We don’t need to be beaten to death with it.  There are some fatal flaws in this thinking.  If Obamacare stands through this and obtains, getting rid of it will not be possible.  In a short time the other options will disappear.  Alternative insurance will not be available.  Employer plans will dissolve.  Our best students will be dissuaded from pursuit of the medical professions and we’ll begin to see shortages in providers.  The weight of Obamacare will destroy the economy by the time it has become implemented fully and the whole program will have become deeply embedded in what’s left of it. 

Even if we were assured of its repeal in 2015, we also are assured of its veto until 2017.  That’s the first possible date when another president will sign any bill abolishing it.  So are we to sit here until 2017?  Another four years?  This piece of garbage was passed in 2009, on Christmas Eve.   We have had two elections since then, through which Republicans have taken over the House of Representatives, which controls the purse.  No program CAN be funded without cooperation from the House.   It’s no accident that the American voters sent Republicans to the House.  Although it didn’t result in a Republican victory in the White House, I think we can all understand that that was the particular death wish of the Republican elite in strong-arming onto the ticket the one man who originated Obamacare.  He could hardly run against it.  So the presidency was NOT a forum on Obamacare, but the House was.

Right now, Republicans in the House have the cards in their hand.  Will they play them wisely or will they let the Democrats play them?  The “tactics” and “strategy” that should be employed is to say:  “Here’s your best deal.  Time is not on your side – we’ll begin doing what should have been done in 2009 – we’ll read the bills, we’ll deliberate on them and we will act with wisdom, understanding that our country is on the brink of bankruptcy and owns an $18 trillion debt.  We’re not taking orders from YOU!”

Now is the time to call back.  Tell you Congressmen and Senators it’s finally time to defund and properly bury Obamacare.   By the way, the number is 202-224-3121.  When you call, let your Senators know that you want them to take the side of Senators Cruz and Lee – that you are not going to be fooled by any of Senator Reid’s machinations regarding a cloture vote.  We must demand that there be a 60-vote majority in order to amend the House’s bill.  Reid, of course, wants to do this with a simple majority of 51.  Republicans can band together to prevent this.   The crucial “cloture” vote should come late this week.  Be sure that your Senator knows you understand this.  Make no mistake – as long as the Senate Republicans do not pull the rug out from under their House colleagues, the power remains with the House Republicans.   Just CALL.