R.I.P. Tea Party 2009-2019
While the Tea Party may continue on in some small grass roots organizations or on some local and state levels, nationally it died. It never managed to do more than be a nuisance to the federal leviathan, and it has now died a quiet death.
Whenever you hear about bipartisan cooperation in DC beware, it usually means massive spending, and spending without paying for it. The just passed budget resolution hands social spending to the Democrats, defense spending to the GOP, removing the Budget caps from 2011, and caps on deficit spending. For you dear reader it would be like getting a notice from Capital One saying that you have no limit on your credit card, and as long as you make the minimum payments, that won't change.
All the stops have been pulled. All the while, Social Security is hemorrhaging cash, because of past deficit spending. Regardless of that spending, contrary to what most believe, in 17 years, if that long, all of those IOUs will be spent, and automatic reductions in payouts will commence. All the while Congress does nothing. That is assuming we get to that point. Each year Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the interest on the debt assume greater parts of the federal budget, more to those things means less to the military, welfare payments, infrastructure, and everything else the feds do that they aren't supposed to. But hey, 17 years is a long time, many in Congress will be out or dead, so what do they care? They don't, at least not enough to wade into that swamp.
It is one thing to deficit spend in times of crisis, it is a completely different thing to use the card in times of prosperity. So where are we? We are told the economy is doing great. By all measures it is. Yet we are spending more than ever. Spending is not a Democrat problem, it is a government problem. People always say that the only things that are certain are death and taxes. Ronald Reagan added that it was next to impossible to remove a government program. Regardless of how irrelevant it is. When will we learn? Never.
There are too many that are dependent on those jobs in DC and around the country. There are too many in the states that are hooked on the money that comes from Washington to the point that they will do whatever it takes to get those dollars. School districts have falsified data to meet the "no child left behind" standards. They throw tons of food in the trash daily to comply with Michelle Obama's school lunch program. Education is not the only place. How many cities and states will prostrate themselves before the altar of federal regulation in exchange for their dollars? Even when the net difference in cost of compliance and dollars received may be such that some question whether it is worthwhile?
Meanwhile, those who are tired of the GOP have little choice on where to go. Unlike many in the GOP I have watched with interest the rulings that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have joined with the lefties on the bench and understand why. The point of having a GOP senate and Trump appoint judges has been mostly validated. But now what? This budget resolution would confirm what I have been worried about from the day that Trump announced his candidacy. His apolitical positions could cause him to just work with whomever will work with him, and principles can be tossed aside. (yes, I did write that, you just have to go back to the primaries in 2015-16 to read about it.)
Who will take up the cause of the Constitution? Trump? Not sure that he is that committed to it. But does any Democrat even care about the Constitution? It is obvious that they do not. Of course neither do most members of the GOP. It is time to go to the drawing board of the states, start looking for those that truly echo those ideals that follow Washington, Madison, et al. One need look no further than Justin Amash I-MI, who renounced his GOP membership because of what is going on in DC. Good for him. Will others follow? I hope so.
Whenever you hear about bipartisan cooperation in DC beware, it usually means massive spending, and spending without paying for it. The just passed budget resolution hands social spending to the Democrats, defense spending to the GOP, removing the Budget caps from 2011, and caps on deficit spending. For you dear reader it would be like getting a notice from Capital One saying that you have no limit on your credit card, and as long as you make the minimum payments, that won't change.
All the stops have been pulled. All the while, Social Security is hemorrhaging cash, because of past deficit spending. Regardless of that spending, contrary to what most believe, in 17 years, if that long, all of those IOUs will be spent, and automatic reductions in payouts will commence. All the while Congress does nothing. That is assuming we get to that point. Each year Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the interest on the debt assume greater parts of the federal budget, more to those things means less to the military, welfare payments, infrastructure, and everything else the feds do that they aren't supposed to. But hey, 17 years is a long time, many in Congress will be out or dead, so what do they care? They don't, at least not enough to wade into that swamp.
It is one thing to deficit spend in times of crisis, it is a completely different thing to use the card in times of prosperity. So where are we? We are told the economy is doing great. By all measures it is. Yet we are spending more than ever. Spending is not a Democrat problem, it is a government problem. People always say that the only things that are certain are death and taxes. Ronald Reagan added that it was next to impossible to remove a government program. Regardless of how irrelevant it is. When will we learn? Never.
There are too many that are dependent on those jobs in DC and around the country. There are too many in the states that are hooked on the money that comes from Washington to the point that they will do whatever it takes to get those dollars. School districts have falsified data to meet the "no child left behind" standards. They throw tons of food in the trash daily to comply with Michelle Obama's school lunch program. Education is not the only place. How many cities and states will prostrate themselves before the altar of federal regulation in exchange for their dollars? Even when the net difference in cost of compliance and dollars received may be such that some question whether it is worthwhile?
Meanwhile, those who are tired of the GOP have little choice on where to go. Unlike many in the GOP I have watched with interest the rulings that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have joined with the lefties on the bench and understand why. The point of having a GOP senate and Trump appoint judges has been mostly validated. But now what? This budget resolution would confirm what I have been worried about from the day that Trump announced his candidacy. His apolitical positions could cause him to just work with whomever will work with him, and principles can be tossed aside. (yes, I did write that, you just have to go back to the primaries in 2015-16 to read about it.)
Who will take up the cause of the Constitution? Trump? Not sure that he is that committed to it. But does any Democrat even care about the Constitution? It is obvious that they do not. Of course neither do most members of the GOP. It is time to go to the drawing board of the states, start looking for those that truly echo those ideals that follow Washington, Madison, et al. One need look no further than Justin Amash I-MI, who renounced his GOP membership because of what is going on in DC. Good for him. Will others follow? I hope so.
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