WELL FOLKS, WE SCREWED UP, WE TRUSTED THEM…

Sadly, now roughly six short months after it occurred, I find myself wondering if outcome of the 2014 election was nothing more than a result of what was a massive exercise in election fraud.  Fraud on a national scale and not the result of faulty or rigged ballot machines, hanging chads or ballots that were mysteriously ‘found’ in the trunk of the local Democrat Party chairman.  What it was, was the result of rigged candidates.  And it appears that Republicans seem to be constantly voting ‘with’ Barry “Almighty” on one critical issue after another, let me tell you that your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  We are indeed witnessing the most Orwellian opposition party ever elected to the majorities in both houses of Congress.

According to the non-partisan Congressional Quarterly: Republicans took the Senate in 2014 by stressing that Democrats in red states were sticking close to Barry “Almighty.”  I cannot remember how many times I was told that if were to replace those Democrats with Republicans things would change, and change for the better.  Well, we bought it all, hook line and sinker.  And what did we get in return for handing over the Republicans complete control of Congress?  As it turns out, at least up to this point, not much.  In fact, it would appear that we got absolutely nothing at all.  Because it would appear that the new GOP majority in 2015 is voting Barry “Almighty’s” way as often as they ever have.

Look, I know it’s still ‘somewhat early’. It has after all only been six months and maybe I was expecting too much.  But let’s be real, time goes by quickly, windows of opportunity are all too brief, and the next election is now only 18 months away.  I think it’s reasonable to assume that at this point, few expected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to be as accommodating as he has been.  And today we have access to daily reports on voting patterns which show that Barry’s victory percentage on Senate votes where he’s taken a position is at 82 percent. That's a bit lower than recent years but higher than his number in 2012, when it was the Democrats that ruled the chamber.

Democrats are voting with the president at or near record levels, and unfortunately Republicans are too. So far, they’ve voted with Barry 54 percent of the time, just a tick below last year’s record 55 percent.  And one need not delve deeper than the most pressing issues of our time in order to see just how obsequious Republicans have been to this fringe president.  There seems to no longer be any effort in fighting Obamacare or in blocking Barry’s amnesty.  And how can they claim to stand for balanced budgets after having passed a $500 billion health care bill and are now looking to bust the budget caps?   And have we seen any attempt to fight the Democrat assault on religious liberty?  Ah, that would be, NO! 

Of all of the major bills that have passed this Congress, Republicans have only disagreed with Obama on one bill – the Keystone pipeline.  It doesn’t matter how extreme the Democrats behave.  It makes no difference how grave or unpopular the Democrat position is on a given issue.  Sen. Mitch McConnell and his minions worship at the pagan alter of bipartisanship above all else.   The only problem is that at some point that two matters meld together so indissolubly that one can no longer call this fleecing of the American people bipartisanship.  It’s betrayal of an oligarchy.  And it’s not just the fact that Republicans are voting with Barry, it’s that they have deliberately ceded structural control of the chamber to Democrats.

Typically, the majority party will manipulate the floor process to block initiatives from the minority party and vote on wedge issues favorable to their side – ones that embarrass those in the minority.  As such, even if the majority party lacks the votes to overcome a filibuster and pass the legislation, they can use the amendment process on the bill to shame the minority and draw sharp contrasts in the hopes of winning the next election.  ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid was the ultimate master at pursuing Obama’s agenda while blocking all Republican amendments.  Now that Sen. Mitch McConnell is in control of the floor process, nothing has changed.  They are pursuing Barry’s agenda… while blocking many Republican amendments!

McConnell and right-hand man at the negotiation table, fellow RINO John Cornyn, made it pretty clear from day one that they really had no intention of blocking Barry’s nomination of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General as a means of leveraging against Barry’s unconstitutional amnesty.  But why the Hell not?  Isn’t that exactly what ‘Dingy Harry’ would have done under similar circumstances?  Especially when Lynch not only very enthusiastically supports Barry’s illegal amnesty, but because she has also expressed a belief that all residents of the world have the ‘right’ to come here and work, irrespective of how they arrived.  And she is going is now going to our chief law enforcement officer?  Why is it that the spineless wimps are our side?   

Ironically, the only thing that prompted Republicans to block Lynch from a floor vote in the first place was Democrat intransigence against a pet bill of Cornyn’s on human trafficking.  The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, among other things, strengthens law enforcement tools for prosecuting human trafficking violations and requires those convicted of trafficking to pay a $5,000 penalty in addition to criminal charges.  The funds would be used to set up programs supporting victims of sex offenses and human trafficking.  Yet, Democrats held it up for over a month because it didn’t sufficiently fund abortion.  Once a ‘bipartisan’ bargain on the trafficking bill was struck, Republicans set up a floor vote on Lynch, and we now know how that ended. 

But the payment of what was essentially Democrat ransom would prove to run much deeper than just the vote to confirm Lynch.  Sen. Sessions, Republican, proposed an amendment to fix what was considered a major loophole in the bill.  Anyone bestowed with common sense understands that illegal immigration and our porous border is a big driver of human trafficking.  Page 48 of this bill conveniently exempted those who traffic family members from paying the $5,000 penalty to the victims fund.  It’s well known that many illegal aliens traffic their own family members.  And yet, the bill passed without a vote on the Sessions amendment, which would have eliminated this politically-motivated loophole.

Sen. David Vitter, also a Republican, filed an amendment to this same bill that was designed to fixing the loopholes of birthright citizenship and birth tourism.  Not only is this one of the most important magnets for illegal immigration, it is a key factor in encouraging young pregnant women to come here illegally. They are naturally exploited by human traffickers.  Yet, as with the Sessions amendment, this issue would have been quite germane to the underlying subject matter in the bill.  And yet, it too was prevented from receiving a vote.  So you may ask, what did receive a vote?   Well oddly enough it was Patrick ‘Leaky Leahy’, Democrat, who was able to get a vote on his sexual identity amendment.

And believe it or not it was Leahy’s amendment that would have granted the federal government license “to discriminate against faith-based organizations that currently form the backbone of the nation’s social services” if they don’t share the same religious beliefs on sexual identity as the far left.  And believe it or not there were 10 Republicans who actually voted for it, one of which was presidential candidate Rand Paul.  Luckily it failed to garner the necessary 60 votes.  And I would argue the fact that we actually had any Republicans who thought it a good voted for this amendment is all cause for serious concern and more than a little unsettling.  And especially one who is currently seeking the 2016 Republican nomination for president.   

Now let’s put aside the fact that Republicans control the Senate and should always favor their own amendments.  Ask yourselves this question: which amendments would more effectively fight human trafficking – the Sessions and Vitter amendments targeting the actual culprits or the Leahy social issue amendment?  But GOP leadership would rather not answer that question.  And Republicans have already moved on to what their leadership views as being far more important matters, like confirming Loretta Lynch.  The perverse cycle of protecting Democrats and blocking conservatives will continue.  Even George Orwell would be impressed by the faux opposition McConnell and Co. are orchestrating against Barry.

All of this leads me, I guess, to the 2016 election and the fact that I currently find myself in the rather uncomfortable position of wondering if there is any Republican candidate, declared or undeclared, whom I can trust to do the things they say that they’ll do if elected.  Because using the 2014 election as my example, very few of the promises made, have been kept.  And most promises were broken in pretty short order and hence have caused me to be a bit more cynical about things.  Which is sad really, because I just don’t see most of those running as loving my country as much as I do.  And I expect that from Democrats, because most are obvious about their hatred for this country, but I hope for something different from Republicans.