To Hell with Truthiness; Try Some Ballsiness

The Founders intended the U.S. Senate to move slowly, to act deliberately, to be distanced from the frenzied passions of the masses, whose emotional release would come from the lower House and then be softened by the smaller, upper body of quiet contemplation.

That was the plan. After all, they operated in the Age of Reason; they envisioned sure, steady progress and the thoughtful march of history. And for a couple hundred years, the plan worked reasonably well (with one rather major exception in the mid-19th century).

But the Founders failed to anticipate and therefore Constitutionally guard against the development of rabidly entrenched political parties, and they certainly never foresaw the likes of today's GOP, which has twisted the senatorial concepts of contemplation and minority rights out of all recognizable form.

If it's true, and it is, that Senate Democrats have behaved a bit devilishly lately -- and I won't take time to review that sordid history -- one must nevertheless have a little sympathy for the devils. Look at what they're up against: a GOP minority that still thinks it's the majority, a GOP stubbornness not seen since the Gingrich days, and a GOP that is grotesquely focused on pure politics over any consideration of actual public policy. In short, the Senate under GOP minority rule is the antithesis of all the Founders envisioned -- that of a dispassionate, institutional buffer for the common good.

The New York Times this morning has an excellent overview of today's senatorial rathole, summarizing that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "and his fellow Republicans are playing such tight defense, blocking nearly every bill proposed by the slim Democratic majority that they are increasingly able to dictate what they want, much to the dismay of the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and frustrated Democrats in the House."

In fact, GOP obstructionism has morphed so far from the exotic to s.o.p., it occasionally enters the realm of the conspicuously comical; for example, "The Senate Republicans are so accustomed to blocking measures that when the Democrats finally agreed last week to their demands on a bill to repair the alternative minimum tax, the Republicans still objected, briefly blocking the version of the bill that they wanted before scrambling to approve it later." Nasty habits die hard.

In that characteristic doublespeak that only modern GOPers do so well, Mr. McConnell portrayed his party's slithering yahooism as "a positive message of our vision of America." In other words, when you're entrenched behind the eight ball, make your defensive crouch look like a plus -- like you're America's last, and best, salvation, and never mind that what you're defending against is what voters voted for in the last election.

And you know what? There's a reasonably good chance Mr. McConnell and his party will get away with it in the next election. Why? Because, simply, they know how to sell a message, no matter how mind-bendingly farcical that message may be. How? Simply by hammering away at it over, and over ... and over ... and maintaining the unbroken employment of that chorus of singing angels and that brood of prehensile flag-wavers in the background.

Yet after 30 years of this instructive and wildly successful right-wing swill, the Democrats still haven't gotten the hang of it. They merely cower in the face of it, instead.

Well, gee, folks, those miserable GOPers are upsetting our plans, they say. And that bad old Republican POTUS would just veto whatever we did manage to send up, they say. Boo-hoo and sorryass us, they say.

But you know -- don't you? -- how Republicans would handle such a sticky situation were both the situational roles reversed.

They'd say, terrific! Let the Democrats filibuster, but force each and every filibuster onto the floor. Let us have cloture vote after cloture vote. Let us, to break the monotony, send bill after bill to the Democratic president for his veto. And then let's do it all over again, step by bloody step. Let the Word go forth across this great and vast land that we could be great again, if only it weren't for those uncompromising Dems.

Now bring up the angels and the flag-waving clowns.

It's an exquisitely simple technique. To be effective, however, it does call for one other essential element: balls -- huge, swinging and unapologetic ones.

Need I say more?

Comments

[rosiea2]

Agreed! The Dems need to use the system to the American Public's advantage. That's the ticket, methodically over and over and over. We gave the majority a mandate last November and I am tiring of watching them shoot for the basket and wilt every time a Republican blocks the Democratic shot.

[getaclue]

Someone please explain to me why the GOP are not required actually to filibuster?

I can still hear Senator Dirkson reading Gone With the Wind into the Congressional record.

wherefore our leaders?

[Nina]

exactly what took place in the Senate this morning. I actually heard some passion from the Dems for a change and they finally called it as you say in your article.....unfortunately, the Dems have no spine. It's truly sickening to hear these parties bickering like children....Doesn't matter what we the people want. It's time most of these people elected by the people to conduct the business of the American people be replaced.

[Richard James]

Its a simple matter of personality type. The right-wingers have no compunction against crawling through the slime. Its inherent in their character that they gladly resort to the most reprehensible behaviors. They are bullies and rapists. A bully will punch you in the face and grin and tell you to quit hitting yourself over and over. A rapist will hold its victim down, insert its vile instrument, ejaculate, then force the victim to bear the offspring. That's what rapists and bullies do and its exactly the behavior exhibited by the Bush supporters. They do not care one whit about truth and justice. They care only that they get to force their will on everyone else---its the only thing that lets them feel like men. Its sick and twisted and perverted but, they have taken over the government and have taken all the money. They have done to America exactly what Enron did and by exactly the same means. Nothing will stop them because they are quite prepared to kill whoever stands in their way. A nation full of obese losers on Prozac isn't about to stop them. I wish I could offer some hope here but, the left wing, such as it is, shows no sign of coming together as a single coherent group that will stand strong and die for a cause--even a just cause. All it would take is for everyone to turn off the TV and sit down and write a letter or two. How likely is that?

[Quirks]

The reality is that, at base, all politicians of this era are getting money from the same lobbyists, hence they are all for continuing the war, refusing to consider impeachment and closing down government services to privatization.

Ross Perot was right...and I hear the giant sucking sound from everywhere.