The media and the DC establishment are abuzz with reports that Senate Republicans recently lashed out at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over the government shutdown. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte confronted Cruz with copies of ads run by an outside conservative groups against her over her vote to allow Sen. Harry Reid to gut the ObamaCare defunding provisions of the House-passed Continuing Resolution. She demanded that Cruz explain his “strategy” over the defunding fight.
It would be more interesting to hear Sen. Ayotte’s and other Republican Senators’ strategy for reversing the government leviathan that is engulfing us. In 1996, the last time the government was forced to shutdown, the total national debt was just over $4 trillion. Today, it is approaching $17 trillion. In the six years that Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House at the dawn of this century, federal spending growth was double that under the Clinton Administration.
What is the mainstream Republican strategy to deal with that?
I was never a big fan of the ObamaCare defunding tactic backed by Sens. Cruz and Lee. It at least had the benefit of being an actual tactic, though, as opposed to what I’ve seen from most Senate Republicans. “Statesmen” like Sens. McCain and Graham want to build up a surveillance state, while others like Sen. Corker want to assist the federal government to greater regulate the financial sector. Sen. Rubio wants to up-end the rule of law and help Democrats enroll more voters, doing next to nothing to stem the tide of illegal immigrants.
For all its shortcomings, at least the position of Sens. Cruz and Lee was in defense of individual liberty. Does it really matter if there was an “endgame” to defend liberty? George Washington didn’t have an “endgame” in mind until Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.
My neighbor spent seven years in Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camps. He told me the other day that every day he was brought into interrogation, he knew he would be tortured if he didn’t divulge critical military information. “You just did your duty,” he said matter-of-factly. “It was just another day to be tortured. Just do your duty.”
The Republicans should “do their duty.” Those who fail to do so should consider themselves warned. A new day is dawning. Make a stand for liberty. The “strategy” and “endgame” will sort themselves out.
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