What's Going on in Washington

One of the most basic checks on the power of the executive branch of the United States government is the role of the Senate to advise and consent to all presidential appointments. In a less divided time, the Senate established a rule that all judges must achieve sixty votes out of one hundred Senators in order to be confirmed as a judge. During the Obama administration, the Democrats became so frustrated over the obstruction of Republicans, no judicial appointment was confirmed for over eight months. So the Dems, having a simple majority, chose to change the rules on confirmation of judicial appointments to allow their simple majority to confirm any judge below the Supreme Court level.

Now the Republicans have a simple majority in the Senate, the Democrats are vowing to obstruct the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice, and they’re crying fowl that the Republicans plan to use their simple majority to change thee rules on confirmation of Supreme Court nominees. In effect, the Dems are saying, “It’s okay when we do it, but if you do it, it’s absolutely evil.”

In reality the evil is the very need for something to break the deadlock. Were the parties not so full of hate, the problem of obstructionism would never come up. But these two parties, divided by nothing more monumental than competing economics theories, hate each other so much they would rather destroy the whole country than allow a victory, no matter how small, to the other party.

In other news, we hear of the Republican general (retired), who was fired for lying to the vice president about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, offering to testify to Congress if he is granted immunity from prosecution for anything he might reveal. Does he have something to fear. Yes, even if he didn’t break any laws, he’s going to be prosecuted because he’s a convenient patsy for the Republicans, and he’s everything the Democrats hate.

The Republicans are in shock over the populist takeover of their party. Suck it up guys. You wouldn’t have this problem if you had nominated John McCain in 2000. No you wanted to nominate W because he represented the kind of conservative you like. Turned out you got a feudal overlord, instead of a president, who dragged the country into a war in fulfillment of a family vendetta. The party could have had a lasting legacy of statesmanship.

Then in 2008, you told McCain you would let him be president if he would compromise his values and represent your brand of conservatism. What you got was Democratic control of the White House and both houses of Congress, the Affordable Care Act, and the Tea Party. It’s your own fault for not listening to your constituents instead of your benefactors. Now you don’t even have a party any more.

Democrats, let this be a lesson for you. It took you seventy-two years to recover from the division you suffered in the Civil War. Listen to your constituents, not some subset of them, and do their will. Otherwise you too will be ripped apart by the factions that form in your ranks.