Here Lies the Rupublic - May She Rest in Peace

While the talking heads tally the latest count of pro and con votes for healthcare, Nancy Pelosi predicts a vote will take place by late next week. The President has postponed his trip to Asia so he can strong-arm…oops…I meant persuade wavering Democrats for an additional three days. One thing is clear; Pelosi will only proceed to a vote if she is certain of the outcome and that certainty will either be purchased in more promises through back room deals or through the threats of retribution in the form of base closures and the diversion of stimulus money.

A sizeable amount of the stimulus funds remains unspent and many could not understand why the Congress would pass a jobs bill for even more money when so much stimulus money is still waiting for distribution. A quick accounting of stimulus dollars show that the funds that were distributed were focused in areas that were represented by Party faithful by a factor of two to one and that districts represented by Republicans with higher unemployment rates and more dire economic expectations were largely ignored. The eyes of the nation are on the healthcare debate and talk of backroom deals like the Louisiana Purchase (Hi Mary) and the Cornhusker Kickback have infuriated the public so intensely that Democratic leadership can no longer risk such blatant examples of vote buying. What they can do is point to the huge pile of stimulus money still waiting to be spent and wink at those that are on the fence.

Democratic leadership will stop at nothing to get this vote done before the Easter break because the one thing they fear more than anything else is the possibility of the public getting to speak with their representatives before a vote can be taken. After all, those angry people that attended the town hall meetings last August nearly upset the whole reform conversation. Now that the opposition to this bill has been cemented even further and Congressional approval ratings are at their lowest point in recorded history, any contact between Congress and constituent would damage the chances for passage beyond repair. Apparently, this latest push and deadline is meant to prevent that contact from ever happening. Is this democracy? Is this representative government?

The argument has been made that in a Republic, we elect representatives that best reflect our values and then trust them to vote their conscience. If that were true in every case and the will of the people can only be counted on Election Day, then why do so many elected officials claim a “mandate” if they win election by more than a mere majority? When there is overwhelming opposition to any legislation then the will of the people must determine the outcome or the validity of representative government becomes impaired. A Republic can only survive if the governed have confidence that they are actually being represented.

Today, we have little confidence in that representation and even less faith that our confidence can be restored. The 2010 elections will be more than a commentary on this President and his Congressional colleagues; it will be a turning point in the history of our nation. I sadly predict that healthcare bill will pass by hook and mostly by crook and that the Democrats will suffer a major defeat in November because of it. However, if the November election does not usher in a new breed of politician that will act with dignity and honor to restore the faith of the electorate, I have little hope that the United States will escape the grave consequences brought on by the last hundred years of Progressive meddling.

The latest assault on our Constitution is already being planned if the White House and Nancy Pelosi cannot secure the votes to get the bill past the house in the manner prescribed by law. As I discussed Friday, Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has suggested that since the House and the Senate have already passed similar bills, the Senate bill should just be sent to the President without a House vote. If that is attempted, I can envision a fire storm among the electorate that can only end in disaster. People were already incensed at the news that if the Bill passed through the house, the Senate intended to use reconciliation to effectively negate the vote of newly elected Republican, Scott Brown. The Slaughter plan would represent a new low for the most corrupt Congress of the century; negating not only Scott Brown’s vote, but the representative vote of the American people.

Not even during a state of emergency has this amount of power been seized by an obvious minority of elected officials. This is not the opening day of World War III and there is no looming threat of an asteroid collision with earth. There is nothing about this bill that would require such extraordinary and dictatorial measures be taken to secure its passage. If Congress can perpetrate such a clear and dangerous abrogation of due process then the rights guaranteed by the Constitution may only be a signature away from extinction. The legislative rules that Louise Slaughter and Nancy Pelosi obviously consider an issue of mere formality are really the basis of representative government. To use this tactic means that the sheer will of Progressive ideologues can and will create laws, administrations and regulations without the need for even a simple majority. Where is your Republic then?

Blatant chicanery has marred the healthcare bill ever since it was proposed. The kickback schemes that encouraged members of Congress to prostitute their votes (Hi again Mary…and you thought I forgot you!) were only the beginning. The President promised he would not sign a bill that added to the deficit so they began skimming major spending deals out of the bill only to be hidden within other less obvious resolutions. The “Doctor Fix” that would stabilize Medicare payments to doctors is valued at nearly three-hundred billion dollars, would have added every penny of that fix to the deficit. They needed that “fix” to secure the silence of doctors so it was cut from the healthcare bill and now resides quietly and uncounted in the latest jobs bill. It still adds to the deficit but just not as part of the healthcare bill.

The Presidential promise of “If you like your current insurance, you can keep it” has slowly transformed into “If you like your doctor, you can keep him.” Not many picked up on that because it was repeated so often that the minor change of two words was barely noticeable. But the change of those two words makes all the difference in the world. Certain plans will be grandfathered in as long as they meet the new government established requirements while the rest will be replaced. Even grandfathered plans have a shelf life and will be terminated under this bill by 2019.

The President assured everyone that the cost of insurance plans would go down with passage of this bill but now it seems that the reduction the President was talking about is relative to the new expanded coverage mandated by the bill and in fact, current plans will see an increase of ten to thirteen percent almost immediately. The President also said that abortion is not covered under the healthcare bill but even Planned Parenthood is calling for support for the President’s bill because of the new access to abortion the plan will provide.

Lie after lie has been told to gain support for this bill and now that the lies have failed and the truth is too widely known to obscure it with platitudes and sob stories, Progressives are desperate to save it. Reconciliation would have shoved it down your throat but Ms. Slaughter and Ms. Pelosi are now planning a different and more painful route to the gastrointestinal tract. Progressives are like roaches. Most of their work must be done in the dark and they usually scatter when the lights go on. Hopefully, enough people will launch a preemptive strike and flood the Congress with letters and phone calls to warn them we are watching. The Slaughter plan must not be allowed to stand or the Republic will fall as an emboldened President and his Congressional henchmen continue chopping away at our Constitution to create more loopholes in order to advance his radical agenda.

Paul

Damn the Republic, Full Speed Ahead - Part Two

The press is on to pass healthcare and the Congressional leadership is more than comfortable to take the entire process behind closed doors and use every little bit of skullduggery and shady legislative loopholes at their disposal. While there is no doubt that President Obama has his own secret agenda, he is only a small part of the problem. Congress has been selling out the United States for years. Some have been doing their dirty work simply to remain in power for as long as possible while others have a more sinister reason for their curious voting record.

91 year-old Robert Byrd from West Virginia has been in the United States Senate for a full 50 years and is not only the oldest current member of congress but the longest serving as well. Ted Kennedy wasn’t far behind having served 46 years in the Senate before he died of brain cancer at the age of 77 earlier this year. 80 year old John Conyers Jr. of Michigan has been a member of the House of Representatives for the past 44 years. 79 year-old Charles Rangel of New York has been in the House of Representatives for 38 years.

I could go on and on but it would just get monotonous. So why would a brilliant attorney turn down a lucrative career in private practice for a congressman’s pay which today, is roughly $175,000 per year for the rank and file? There must be other benefits to the job; benefits that would make these men and women fight tooth and nail to remain in office for decades. There are far too many members of Congress that have served for decades; many of which share other curious ties. Out of just the four gentlemen I mentioned above, two should never have been allowed to serve in Congress and the other two should have been thrown out on their ears.

In 1951, Ted Kennedy was thrown out of Harvard in his freshman year for cheating. He was allowed to re-apply in 1953 and eventually completed his education there. In 1969 he was involved in a mysterious accident after leaving a party held by the “boiler-room girls”, a group of women working on his brother Robert’s campaign. Mr. Kennedy denied alcohol was involved but curiously, did not report the accident to the police until the following morning. The police found the submerged car that still contained the lifeless body Mary Jo Kopechne, a woman who had left the party with Senator Kennedy. The inquest was held in secret at the request of Kennedy’s lawyers and while he was never held responsible for the death of Ms. Kopechne, he did receive a two month suspended sentence for leaving the scene of an accident.

Senator Robert Byrd was a member of the infamous Ku Klux Klan, dropping from its membership rolls just in time to pursue a career in politics. He spent a good portion of his career fighting doggedly against civil rights and equal voting rights legislation. In 1968, he finally voted for the Civil Rights Act citing a change in heart brought on by his participation in a Baptist church however, many feel that the political winds had shifted against open racism and his “epiphany” had more to do with a desire to remain electable than the discovery of any form of morality.

John Conyers Jr. was sited for ethics violations after several former aides accused him of using publically paid Congressional staff members to work on his campaign, forced them to baby-sit and chauffer his children. Mr. Conyers accepted responsibility for “possibly” violating house rules and acknowledged what he called a “lack of clarity” in his communications with his staff regarding their official duties. While he regularly voted against legislation that would force the Federal government to restrain spending and balance the budget, he did proudly author a bill that would have, if passed, provide the religion of Islam with special protection against acts of violence and intolerance. In what appears to be a marriage made in heaven, his 44 year-old wife Monica has recently plead guilty to charges of conspiring to commit bribery while she was a member of the Detroit City Council.

Charles Rangel has his own problems. Recent investigations show that he rents four apartments in the Lenox Terrace complex in Harlem at below-market rates. The newspaper reported that Rangel paid $3,894 monthly for all four apartments in 2007, but that the going rate for similar apartments offered by the landlord in that building would be as high as $8,125 monthly. Three adjacent apartments on the 16th floor were combined to make up his 2,500-square-foot home; a fourth unit on the 10th floor is used as a campaign office, even though that violates city and state regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence.

A Congressional ethics expert cited by The Times indicated that the difference in rent between what Rangel was paying and market rates on the second, third and fourth apartments he rented, an estimated $30,000 per year, could be construed as a gift as the savings is granted at the discretion of the landlord and is not offered to the public at large; if this should be treated as a gift, it would exceed the $100 limit established by the House of Representatives. Rangel was also accused of failing to report income from the rental of a villa he owns in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, a three-bedroom, three-bath unit that has been rented out for as much as $1,100 per night in the busiest tourist season, from mid-December to mid-April.

Additional accounting discrepancies were disclosed on September 15, 2008, including omission in Rangel's financial reports of details regarding the sale of a home he once owned on Colorado Avenue in Washington, DC, discrepancies in the value listed for a property he owns in Sunny Isles, Florida (varying from $50,000 to $100,000 all the way up to $500,000), and inconsistencies in investment fund reporting. Curiously, Mr. Rangel is the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the Congressional committee that is responsible for writing the tax laws that the rest of us “non-congressmen” are expected to abide by or else!

The worst part is that these examples are not the exception. To date there are:
29 members of Congress accused of spousal abuse
7 members of Congress arrested for fraud
19 members of Congress accused of writing bad checks
117 members of Congress either directly or indirectly bankrupted 2 businesses
3 members of Congress have served time for assault
71 members of Congress cannot obtain a credit card due to bad credit
14 members of Congress have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 members of Congress have been arrested for shoplifting
21 members of Congress are currently defendants in lawsuits and
84 members of Congress have been arrested for drunk driving.

Perhaps it is the perceived immunity that their power offers them from prosecution that holds their interest. I’m not saying that none of them have ever been convicted or served time for their crimes. Not even I am that cynical, but they certainly haven’t felt the full weight of the law that the regular citizens of this nation do. The kit gloves treatment they receive is definitely a perk but not the reason that keeps them firmly ensconced in the Capitol building. For many, it is strictly the power that draws them and one can tell by the arrogance with which they treated their constituents during the recent town hall meetings that they now believe that they are aristocrats, a ruling class exerting their dominance over the lowly peasants; in other words, the American people.

That is the good news. There is a darker side to Congress; a side that is dangerously close to seeing the ambitions they have kept secret for decades finally take root. Now the political winds are blowing in their favor; especially since the nation has unwittingly elected a President that appears to be a willing co-conspirator.

Join me tomorrow for a glimpse at the dark side.

Paul