The Kamikaze Caucus

Kim Strassel: Another Misguided Cruz Missile - WSJ.com:



Good article on the circular firing squad that is doing it's best to scuttle the Republicans slim hopes of taking the Senate.



CONSERVATIVES are to be the party of principle first, but it has never been all that clear what the Republican Party in America is. The Democrats have always been the party of "POWER by whatever means necessary baby!!!".



Republicans have made runs at "justice" ... ending slavery, giving blacks the vote, ensuring the they were actually allowed to vote, etc, based on principle. All those efforts faced staunch opposition from Democrats.



"Progressives" have been a major force in both parties -- Teddy Roosevelt being the big Republican "progressive".  "Progressive" is another oxymoron like "liberal", the best definition is paternalism enforced by the state. Prohibition was an example of a "progressive" project, as was eugenics, forced sterilization for the "less fortunate". The National Socialists in Germany were unabashedly "progressive", but when they didn't turn out to be so wonderful, the term "liberal" was stolen from the ACTUAL liberals -- or "libertarian" wing of the more conservative parties.



So Republicans have always had an "identity problem" -- while the media likes to claim they are the party of the "rich", that is definitely not so ... the vast majority of the wealthy in this country are Democrats. Including CEOs, Hollywood Stars, media personalities, Sports Stars, Wall Street Tycoons, and of course Lawyers.



In gambling, the big rule is "the house wins". This is also true in politics, and "the house" is made up of 90%+ Lawyers -- State and Federal, but of course the big money folks are also part of "the house" -- they prefer a government controlled playing field where their risks are bailed out by the government and their rewards can be taxed lightly or not at all. (they are HUGELY in favor of income earning folks in the $40-$500K range paying VASTLY more taxes)

That is why we find when a Democrat tries to appoint people they are all 10's, 100's of thousands or more out of whack on taxes. The IRS is part of the corrupt system that rewards the friends of the the ruling party and punishes it's enemies. Being the right level of Democrat freind means that you are exempt from things like high taxes -- you are a freind, taxes are for the enemies to pay!



Reagan formed a coalition that is very damaged now,  and as this article points out, teetering. The Tea Party is an unabashedly upper low and ACTUAL "middle class" movement -- meaning folks from around $40K INCOME to say "< $500K" in INCOME. The media and the Democrats, but I repeat myself, get VERY angry about folks like that having the gall to think!



Note, I said INCOME, not WEALTH!!! Because of the income tax, we live with a good many fantasies in this country. Reagan formed a coalition of that "income middle class" + elderly and religious folks that still cared about values at that time. The Democrats like to call people that make $150, $200, $300K ish "rich". A few years of that maximum level of income is "nice", and if one watches their Ps and Q's, lives WELL below the lifestyle level one would "think" such an income would buy, invests wisely and has some luck, you might be able to have something.



Most people don't -- they borrow heavily all the way up the scale, spend a lot on cars, vacations, etc, and maybe invest in a lot of popular products that primarily make investment people wealthy. Then the plant closes, the market crashes, the housing prices drop, etc, etc, and they are back in the "needs assistance" class -- which is what the system the Democrats set up is exactly as planned!



The Democrats have used abortion, gay marriage, added government assistance and programs and vastly increasing amounts of public employment (much of it via contracting) to lock in their power base solidly. Romey was wrong about the  47% takers vs makers ... it is more like 53% primarily takers. Doesn't mean they don't work, and don't work hard, but they believe that the same "house" that is owned by lawyers, wall street, hollywood, the super rich, etc is actually going to make their lives better.



The party of power could care less about the benefit of anyone but themselves,  least of all those that are willing to be the "controlled" -- sometimes known as "the sheeple" part of their voting block. Over 90% of the blacks, over 70% of the women, over 70% of those that receive some sort of government "benefit" -- rising of course with BOcare. Those that consume a diet full of public education and mass media that either never thought they had a shot, or have lost faith for more than being wards of the state are way too afraid to question the hand that (for now) feeds them.



So we kill the general competitiveness and innovation of the nation by increasing the transfer from the small business owner and the $40-$500K income level as well as future generations -- making sure that they know their future is hopeless before they ever even get out of school.



To the extent that the ruling class cares, which in general they don't, their belief is that they will be able to ride out the implosion -- sure, many of the sheeple that voted them in might live in absolute squalor and death, but by that time they will have fully institutionalized the kind of corrupition we see under BO.



The Republicans are now a rump party. W was our last faint hope, but he was too much of the old line patrician kind of R like his Dad, and not nearly the kind of communicator that was needed. We screwed the pooch with the '06 election and it has been downhill from there. I see nobody on the horizon capable of transmitting the relatively simple message that the vast majority of Americans have been completely duped, and those that look around a bit are just waiting for the inevitable final fall.



It becomes hard to know what to cheer for -- a Republican win that might stave things off a very tiny bit, another Republican rout that would return us to the '07-'09 kind of free fall, or just some treading water, which is the most likely. Very very few even have a remote handle on the seriousness or our situtation, and games like Cruz is playing are very much rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.



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