The 18 Republican Senators who betrayed us today are a watershed moment, I think. Keep in mind that they didn’t have to do it just in practical terms. Once the vote to close debate happened, the Democrats had 50 plus the VP to ensure passage. They didn’t need a single GOP vote after that. Also, there is no part of the GOP base which wanted this Omnibus to pass. If you polled it, you’d probably find well more than 80 percent opposed. So, there would be no risk of a GOP base revolt over a “no” vote. Meanwhile, a “yes” vote also doesn’t help these guys because most Independents are also opposed to the pork in the bill while the Democrat voters were never going to vote for the GOPer. So, the reason why they voted in favor was to insult us.
They were letting us know that they don’t give a damn what we think and, further, that they are confident that the revolt represented by Trump and his supporters is over. They’ve figured it out – in the 2022 cycle, they managed to successfully sabotage almost every Trump-backed candidate. They now sit there and with this vote say: you can’t beat us. And even if you manage to primary us, we’ll ensure a Democrat wins so you’ll be even worse off. You have no choice but to vote for us! They are very confident that we will be so fearful of large Democrat majorities that we will now knuckle under.
But, are we? As the old phrase goes, if you’re to be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb, might as well go for the sheep. What real advantage do we obtain from having any GOPers in the Senate right now? The filibuster? As it turns out, that filibuster only has one remaining purpose: to make sure when we have a majority that our policies are blocked. Today’s vote shows that the GOP will not exercise the filibuster to stop Democrat policies. Perhaps it is time we went nuclear?
Sure, we understand that large Democrat majorities will quickly enact a whole host of things we can’t stand – but is that really worse than small Democrat majorities slowly enacting a whole host of things we can’t stand? Don’t see much of an upside to that.
I think that it is time to fight, one last time (because there won’t be another time), for what we think is right. All or nothing. We need to primary every GOPer who votes with the Democrats on anything. And if our primary challenge fails, stay home on Election Day. Let there be Democrat Senators from Utah and Alabama. Having Republican Senators from there hasn’t done us one bit of good so it is no real loss. Keep voting GOP at the State and local level! We have some good eggs down there – trouble is that once they head towards DC, they abandon us. But what we’re trying to do now is sift out the people who are warriors. And if we can’t have our warriors, then we’ll have nothing. And as we punish people for betraying us, the feedback loop will start to produce warriors or, at the least, people more terrified of us than of a bad notice in the Washington Post.
And, hey, if this gambit fails then we are no worse off than we would have been. Going along as things are now means we’ll have re-education camps by 2036. Play for high stakes and maybe we get them by 2032. Big whoop. But, also, if we go to the mat and insist it is our way or the highway, just maybe by 2028 we get a trifecta of power which will do what we want? It could happen. Things suck. They are going to suck even worse over the next few years. If we stand aside from it, building up a warrior class condemning everything and never being party to the ruin, then we might find that people turn to us – in desperation, sure, but power is power. Doesn’t matter why people gave it to you. It only matters that you have it – and if we have it with people who care and will do as they’re supposed to, it could be a glorious turn around for America.
At least that is how I see it. I can’t just sit here and wait for disaster – I must do something. This is it: nuke the GOP from orbit. It is the only way to make sure…and then build it as we wish.