Of course, with the usual apologies to
Bob Ryan, from whom I shamelessly steal this idea from time to time.
I've had several ideas for a blog this day, none of which was really fleshed out. But let's start with a new term I heard this week.
"Superminority"
Yep, some pundit actually invented this term to tell us that the United States was rendered essentially ungovernable last week. (Thanks to all my voting colleagues here in this Commonwealth.) Never mind that the so-called 'Kennedy Seat' flipped, and by so doing we killed the esteemed Senator's life's work at the same time.
Right now, if the Democrats sponsored legislation making it illegal to kill, cook, and eat kittens....the Republicans would oppose it.
There's been much talk recently of "forcing the republicans into action" from some factions of the left. Well....I say let's do it! The filibuster used to be a last-ditch weapon that required sacrifice and physical discomfort to pull off effectively. (look up Strom Thurmond's record 24 hours sometime). Now it's become a concept.
If the Republicans want to oppose some legislation, then the Senate leadership should call it to a vote and let the chips fall where they may. I'd rather go down fighting than turning tail and running off, but with the current Senate leadership (re: NONE), I doubt we'll see that happening anytime soon.
You know Raine called me on it last week...and I posted a brief blog a few weeks back enumerating my displeasure with the administration and it's actions...and my thoughts that I might just go back Libertarian.
Well....that idea has gone out the window of late. The Libertarians look to be forging a coalition with the Teabaggers, and since I believe the tea group operates on a different plane from the rest of us, this isn't a realistic option anymore. Obama's election might have been a foregone conclusion in 2008, but the Libertarians also had a tremendous opportunity then to make some headway on the national stage. Instead, we got candidate Bob Barr, who ended up destroying the party.
I've been listening to some Libertarian podcasts recently, but I just ditched them all. There's a common theme....Obama is taking away our guns! (Seriously...I just listened to 3 weeks of debate about gun laws.) Is this all people think about in other parts of the country, with everything else that's going on?
Ah, but we'll finish up with Scott Brown. Guess what label he's rolled out for himself? Yep, he's gone all
mavericky.In an interview the other day, he explicity refused to toe the party line, stating “With all due respect, I really don’t know a lot of you people, and you don’t know me. But maybe that’s good, because I’m going to vote how I want to vote.’’
I'm sure that's all fine and good going in, but once Mr. Brown learns how Washington Republicans work, he'll start singing a different tune pretty quickly.
But here's a thought....how about voting what your constituents want?
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