Liberal rags love to publish op-ed pieces by RINO’s. For almost a year, the Charlotte Disturber
has featured Michael Gerson, a National Journal contributor and notorious
establishment apologist, in their Sunday editions. These two peas have a pod in common, they
love bashing Tea Partiers.
Gerson portrays these patriots as a bunch of
petulant children stomping their feet and demanding their Constitution. When reading his articles, you get a sense
that Tea Partiers need to have their asses spanked for demanding a bunch of
nonsense. Indeed, after last week’s
primaries, Mr. Gerson is outright giddy over their defeat. Here is an excerpt from his latest:
Tea Party
leaders managed to confuse petulant, childish, counterproductive legislative
tactics with constitutional fidelity. And Republican leaders finally realized
that some Tea Party agendas — list building, fundraising, presidential primary
positioning — were inconsistent with their own.
The
government shutdown may turn out to have been the high-water mark — the
Cemetery Ridge — of the Tea Party movement. In the aftermath, House Speaker
John Boehner declared that Tea Party groups had “lost all credibility,” and
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell promised that the party would “crush”
outsiders targeting incumbents.
We had a government shutdown? I didn’t notice, except for the Park Service
harassing WWII vets on the national mall.
And wasn’t it reported that only one federal employee was laid off? Again, I ask, what shut down?
Mr. Gerson believes we children need to be
governed. I would say the more apt word is
managed. Here is his condescending
parting shot:
The main
problem with the Tea Party movement is not tactical or tonal but ideological.
Its leaders quote the Constitution to end political discussions: Where do you
find the Environmental Protection Agency or the National Institutes of Health
or Social Security in the language of the document? Most of the Founding
Fathers (particularly the Federalist ones) saw the Constitution as the
beginning of a political discussion: How does a free nation employ this
remarkable structure to confront its problems and achieve its greatness?
Some
quote the Constitution as a substitute for a policy agenda. It is easier, after
all, to memorize than to govern. But a majority political party will convincingly
address public needs: routine educational failure, increasing higher-education
costs, gaps in health coverage and the like. This is what self-government under
the Constitution looks like.
Yes,
the GOP needs electable candidates. It also needs for those candidates to have
something useful and hopeful to say.
Mr.
Gerson, here is something useful to say.
Congress has abdicated their
constitutional responsibilities. We have
federal bureaucracies running the show, and our elected representatives are the
dog and pony show. I’m not blowing tea
party smoke. The Wall Street Journal
published the following:
Washington
set a new record in 2013 by issuing final rules consuming 26,417 pages in the
Federal Register. While plenty of government employees deserve credit for this
milestone, leadership matters. And by this measure President Obama has never
been surpassed in the Oval Office.
The
latest rule-making tally comes from the Competitive Enterprise Institute's
Wayne Crews, who on April 29 will publish his annual review of federal
regulation in "Ten Thousand Commandments." This is important work
because politicians and the media treat regulation as a largely cost-free
public good. Mr. Crews knows better.
Congress
may be mired in gridlock, but the federal bureaucracy is busier than ever. In
2013 the Federal Register contained 3,659 "final" rules, which means
they now must be obeyed, and 2,594 proposed rules on their way to becoming
orders from political headquarters.
The Federal Register finished
2013 at 79,311 pages, the fourth highest total in history. That didn't match
President Obama's 2010 all-time record of 81,405 pages. But Mr. Obama can
console himself by noting that of the five highest Federal Register page
counts, four have occurred on his watch. The other was 79,435 pages under
President George W. Bush in 2008.
How’s that for something useful to say,
Mr. Establishment Republican? Here’s
another universal truth, you insiders aren’t going to do a damn thing about
it. Try and spin some hope out of that.
