OS Muses On The Senate Rule Changes: Failure, Hubris and The Removal Of Restraint

While yesterday's events seem arcane to most, the Senate rules changes will change everyone's lives. Any sense of restraint, from either extreme of the political spectrum, if not already erased, will soon vaporize. Welcome to the 1850's, deja-vue-all-over-again.

Already, Tom Harkin, smelling fresh blood in the water, is calling for the removal of all restraints on legislation as well.

OS watched the replay of Senator Levin's eulogy for the Senate last night, as he warned his enthusiastic leftist colleagues that they had just won a Pyrrhic Victory. Ni modo, hombre--a mi me no importa--seems to be the response from the left. We won, we won, we won, we won...we slam-dunked Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and any and all who would stand in our way as we get what we want. We drew blood, we can beat our chests.

Levin was telegraphing to his colleagues one simple truth: What Goes Around, Comes Around. The opposition we will face in the future will not be on the model of a Lamar Alexander, Howard Baker, or Susan Collins. An entirely new breed of cat has now entered the cat-fight, with long memories about our behavior, and a completely 'don't-give-a-flying-f*** about what Missah Harry thinks, or what the Yew Nork Times writes'. Harry's old, and the Yew Nork Times is going bankrupt, circling the drain along with the Blue States upon whom the Red States are now staging cavalry raids to cherry-pick what remains of their industrial base. One day, probably soon, the tables will be turned.

Missah Harry and Massah Obama may sense that as well. While it can still be done, let's promote our friends into the lifetime sinecure of the federal bench, the ultimate patronage job. We can pull the puppets' strings long after we've been tossed from office.

After all, all of life is about Power. Pure and simple, straight-no-chaser, 100 proof, gloves-off, raw Power. It's exhilarating, it's the ultimate drug. Hubris just isn't for Greeks, you know. Besides, we know  better than those guys. We won't fall into those traps. We've got this whole thing sussed out.

OS writes these things because he can find no other explanation for what he observes.

Normal people undertake ambitious projects throughout life: Education, Marriage, Parenthood. They create businesses, works of art, institutions such as schools and churches. They undertake science to understand how the universe operates, and out of that they create useful inventions. They enter government and public life.

Failure stalks every attempt to achieve. It is an inherent part of the process. Many ventures fail. Normal people, when aventure fails, invariably reflect upon the failure. What went wrong? At what point did things go pear-shaped? Were my assumptions wrong? Did I trust the wrong people? How much of this mess was my responsibility?

And most importantly:

What can I learn from this failure that may fuel the success of the next undertaking?

How can one describe this past year's work of the Obama administration (apart from remaining in power) as anything but massive failure? Need the litany repeat?

Benghazi.
The IRS suborned as a political enforcement arm of the Democrat Party.
The chaos and bloodletting of North Africa and Egypt.
The Syrian tragedy.
The revelation of our tapping the personal cell phones of world leaders.
Snowden.
The attempt to draw us into a civil war in Syria, and the promotion of Putin thereby.
The rise of a nuclear Iran as we stand helplessly by.
The ObamaCare 'rollout', which has burned through at least 600 million dollars, and disrupted millions of lives--and we're just on the front end of that particular adventure.
The chronic unemployment that will not respond to zero interest rate policies.
The stock market bubble roars on, while more and more citizens (and non-citizens) live on Food Stamps.

All of the above fueled and explained by a constant stream of lies from the lips of the President, which corrodes what little confidence yet remains in the office.

Normal people, when confronted with this massive sort of failure, pause and reflect. It is a function of the conscience. Obama and Company drop not a beat, and press forward to gather more power unto themselves, to enable them to undertake more of their ventures. Not a moment's reflection, not a moment's hesitation, simply a push forward to the next item on what seems to be a script, a play-book. No matter what happens, move on to the next item. If we seize enough power while we can, the failures won't matter--we'll have the power, and can stuff the record of those failures down the Memory Hole.

These are not normal people. And OS fears that another group of not normal' people may arise from the Right, or from even Farther Left. He fears we are staggering toward our next Civil War, or a dictatorship, or both. Heaven only knows what tragedies await us.

Yesterday's events will serve as an accelerator of that process, but will not be a principal cause. They were symptomatic, the inevitable result of the hubris that fuels the present regime.

Speaking Up, Refusing To Adjust: Ted Cruz Addresses The Faithful At NRA Convention In Houston

It keeps happening, you know, this slow squeeze on our freedoms...

Nineteen mooks who should have never been allowed in the country hijack three planes, murder thousands of innocents, and we end up being frisked every time we wish to fly. We are assumed to be bad actors, native-born citizens, from little kids through grandmas. The borders remain wide open to all comers, including the latest two mooks who slaughtered the innocents in Boston.

Another mook wears explosive shoes, so now, we all dress in loafers to travel. We stand in long long lines to be frisked by surly functionaries paid for by taxes on our air travel. We dare not utter a word of disagreement with the situation. We, after all, are the problem.

Another mook, who should have never been allowed onto the plane in Amsterdam, wears explosive undies. His own father had reported him to the authorities. His flight originated in Africa, and he paid the ticket to Detroit in cash. Now we get scanned to our birthday suits every time we travel. The borders remain wide open to all comers, including the latest two mooks who slaughtered the innocents in Boston.

Two mooks make home-made bombs out of pressure cookers, drop them in back-packs, slaughter innocents and maim many others. The older mook was allowed into the country earlier this year without a proper visa. Today, the Kentucky Derby was run, and the fans were subject to search, and coolers were banned. Yes, it was raining, but the infield was eerily empty of the throngs of happy fans who normally attend the great event. The borders remain wide open to all comers, and we dare not possibly publicly say that maybe, just perhaps, Islam and its extremist elements had something to do with that crime, or the other crimes listed above. No, no, no, no, no, no.....we can't say that. We can't turn the screws on immigration from dangerous places, we must be welcoming and understanding and accepting as we remove our shoes, have our privates scanned, stay home from public events, have our lives inexorably restricted by a government that refuses to defend us, and has chosen instead to focus its efforts on limiting our lives and freedoms.

An evil man murders his mother, steals her guns, and murders first graders, all of this taking place in a state with restrictive gun laws. In reaction, no mention of anything except targeting the law-abiding.

Punish criminals? Nahhhh.... Secure schools with guards? Unthinkable!! Admit that there is such a thing as evil in the world, and that there are evil people walking about? How very un-Progressive!!
The only only only solution is to target the law-abiding. They are the real problem!

In response, OS invites you to hear Ted Cruz's speech the faithful at the 2013 NRA Convention in Houston. Here's still contending that, one day, we will travel freely, send our kids to school fearlessly, attend concerts and sports events without being frisked. We'll even take our own coolers to the Derby.