(Quote) ....“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution”... Thomas Jefferson (circa 1789)
But even Jefferson could have never imagined a more power-crazed demon than Harry Reid, who has abrogated all "decorum," and now threatens unprecedented war on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Reid (who looks like your skinflint uncle, who once gave you 75 cents on your birthday) now finds himself dangerously backed into a political corner. And people invested with power do not surrender it easily - or without a fight to the finish.
Harry Reid is indeed desperate. He cannot go forward; he cannot retreat. His Nevada constituents want no part of socialized medicine, and the polls back home are dropping. Yet the big unions that support him will take flight if a government-backed public option is not passed by the end of the year.
Reid is no fool. A hardcore hack, he can neither be intimidated, nor swayed by the very people who'll vote for him. Harry knows that it's money - the campaign war chest - that will bring him yet another 6 years as a U.S. senator- the most uniquely powerful job in the entire world.
Hence, Reid is FORCED to take a political posture that plays to unions.
Dirty Harry knows that despite the polls, if a government health plan passes - INCLUDING the public option -union campaign funding will flow into his coffers like the Colorado River in springtime.
Midterm elections never intimidate ANY democratic incumbent - they know the old ABC campaign formula never fails: any republican opponent - even the most clean of clean - can be slandered then defeated by simply:
A- hiring a scumbag political ad agency to "research" - then fabricate lies
B- buying media time (in the millions); continually run negative campaign ads; levy personal attacks
C- watch gullible voters gobble up the bait, as they always do
Ergo...victory! Six more years; political power preserved.
So wonder no more why Reid chooses to ignore not only his angry Nevada constituents, but also the two-million-strong march to his doorstep on Capitol Hill. Socialized medicine is the holy grail for the democrats, and if Reid can't muster 60 Senate votes, he'll contort Senate parliamentary rules and utilize reconciliation.
Presently, with Kennedy departed for the hereafter, and Robert Byrd lingering on this side of eternity, Reid has but 58 votes of the 60 needed (cloture) to bust a republican filibuster and get a democratic bill to the Senate floor.
So Reid will then split the emerging bill, breaking up its most contentious portions for the 51-vote (simple majority) reconciliation process, while keeping those measures garnering bi-partisan support in a separate bill.
This would undoubtedly trigger an acrid, long-standing, bitterly-partisan civil war (the nuclear option).
If Reid makes good on his threat to ram through a bill to appease his left, outraged Republicans could indeed make good on their threat to shut down the Senate; something that could change the political landscape on Capitol Hil for the next 50 years - or even longer.
Even "moderate" Olympia Snowe warned about using reconciliation: (quote) ...“At a time when we need to bolster the public’s confidence in whatever we do with health care, I don’t think the reconciliation process will serve the purpose of providing affordable health security for all Americans."
And if Snowe (a known democratic collaborator) feels this resistive about it, how would Jim DeMint, Orrin Hatch, Tom Coburn, and others react? It takes but one angry Senator to stop the upper chamber in its tracks. But if Reid invokes reconciliation, not only would he create an entire cadre of enraged Republicans in Washington, but another TWO HUNDRED MILLION angry Americans - all pointing the finger directly at dirty Harry Reid.
Thomas Jefferson correctly understood how power corrupts, and authority is never easily rescinded.
Thus, dirty Harry will not be deterred - now extending an iron fist, ensconced within a velvet glove: (quote)..."We still, after all these months, have a place at the the table for the Republicans"...."We do not want to do reconciliation unless we have no alternative."
No alternative? Reid is intoxicated with the elixer of tryranny!
We all realize the federal government has NO Constitutional authority to run a health care plan (or system). But if the Republicans decide to knuckle under to this snake-like majority leader, we will have effectively surrendered our liberty to a run-amok Democratic Congress, feeling as though it has authority to do whatever it wills itself to do.
The Republicans - knowing Reid is now cornered - must immediately lay the groundwork for the ugly possibility of "shutting down" the Senate: Not attending committee hearings; no “unanimous consent” for moving forward on issues; and ceasing all routine business.
Forcing the senate into a standstill is an incredibly high-risk operation. It has to be accompanied by a major PR operation, lest a hostile, pro-liberal media paint the Republicans as "do-nothing anarchists".
The Republicans MUST be willing to take unprecedented measures to fight Reid's unprecedented tyranny; otherwise, we'll be committing Constitutional suicide, and America will be forever changed into the socialist country that our Founders went to such great lengths to prevent.
(quote)..."All tyranny needs to gain is a foothold, for people of good conscience to remain silent...Thomas Jefferson.