Monday, December 21, 2009

Little Late for Bleating, Senator McCain

by Smitty (h/t Nice Deb)

Senator McCain: shut up!

The time to confront the Federal dragon was at the point where somebody empowered the Federal government to do this sort of crap. That was 100 years ago. We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of the 16th & 17th Amendments and the Federal Reserve act.

OK, props for the John Paul Jones reference. I guess you'd been sleeping below decks while decided it moral to have massive Federal debt, oh, your Entire Political Career, SIR.

If the goals of the "Not Yet Begun to Fight" movement are to scale back Federal power, then the fight is worth joining. Otherwise the bleating amounts to a fart in a thunderstorm, Senator.

Those 60 Senators who voted for cloture, including fellow USNA grad Jim Webb, may as well have been voting for their personal impeachment. That is how those 60 should be treated at the ballot box. I'm sure they figure we shall have forgotten, amidst the follow-on atrocities of this Congress.

And, if the people we have on the ballot in 2010 and 2012 are just another set of tools, gears and cogs to throw into the machine, then these 60 are correct: they're just doing their job. They are mere components in the machine. They will get consulting jobs, academic chairs, and think tank perches in support of the next 60 to follow.

Senator McCain, if you're sincere, and not merely offering a sop to the people whose Constitution has become a joke over the last century, a healthy chunk of which you've been an insider, then BE the John Paul Jones. Offer the insight, name the names. The sun has set on the genteel past of the Senate.

Forget the Bonhomme Richard. Here is an arguably more accurate image of the situation since the 2008 election:

Real leadership is going to entail as much sacrifice as you offered in Vietnam, Senator McCain. During the campaign, you still sounded the consummate insider. You could start by repudiating that insider shtick, and embracing Federalism.

If you rather sound like another beltway tool, then your rhetoric is mere bleating, Senator McCain. Which is why you didn't win the election.

Update: American Glob: "Liberty Died While You Slept"

Update II: HillBuzz: "Question of the Day: Is America Worth Fighting For?"

1 comment:

  1. "During the campaign, you still sounded the consummate insider. You could start by repudiating that insider shtick, and embracing Federalism."

    Ain't happening. And the 17th amendment you cite as part of the problem explains WHY it ain't happening. When the sovereign States had direct representatives in DC, they had a voice. But the direct election of Senators transformed those offices into another battalion of DC insiders, and that's what they will be, no matter who they are.

    One big pink slip for the entire District of Corruption is the only real answer.

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