Great American Journal

Living In A Box With Two Left Sides

J.R. Dieckmann - Editor

May 26, 2007

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are praising themselves on the accomplishments of their Congress after the first 5 months in charge. The fact is that the only significant legislation they have accomplished is the Emergency War Funding Bill that had to be amended 5 times before it passed and the President would sign it.

So what are all these accomplishments they are talking about? Well, they followed the inspirational leadership of Mrs. Clinton and renamed a park and some buildings. Then they renewed some older legislation that was due to expire, and not much else. I wonder if they will be as diligent in renewing the Bush tax cuts when they come due for expiration.

The complete list of the stunning accomplishments of this 110^th Congress appears at the end of this article. Brace yourself!

Our country is in a tug of war. Liberals are pulling harder to the left while conservatives are simply trying to hold their American ground. The two sides are so far apart now that congressional compromises between the left and the right will no longer satisfy anyone. Both sides feel cheated and betrayed by Congress.

Conservatives have a perfect right to feel betrayed because every compromise with the liberals is a move to the left for the country and away from Conservative American values. On the other hand, for the liberals every compromise is a gain and a move closer to their goals of socialism and destruction of American values as we have known them for over 200 years. Frankly, conservatives don't think it's a good idea to make America more like Europe and Russia with all of their problems.

Do Americans want socialism and a government controlled society where everyone is the same and equal? Or do we want capitalism and free enterprise with minimal government interference where people are free to be all they can be? Do Americans want to live with the freedoms guaranteed by Constitution, or discard them by rewriting and misinterpreting our basic laws to provide a society ruled by lawmakers solely for "the common good"?

These are the questions that those on the left really need to think about and consider when choosing their party leaders. When they realize that what the electorate wants is really irrelevant to whom the party bosses select, then it may be time to abandon that party. The same thing applies to the Republican Party electorate, which is clearly unhappy with the current candidates being promoted as "top tier." Since the McCain/Feingold 2002 Campaign Reform Act was passed, "top tier" candidates are chosen based on wealth, not principle. The Whitehouse is sold to the highest bidder.

Our Constitution guarantees our rights to capitalism and our freedom to create, develop, and reap the rewards of our efforts as individuals. Nowhere in the Constitution does it guarantee a right of anyone to receive entitlements from the taxpayers, or the federal government to redistribute the wealth. Nor does it authorize the federal government to dictate social policy or interfere with normal societal development of the people. The job of our government is to represent the people, not dictate to them. The Democrat leadership wants just the opposite.

Why do Democrats keep claiming that they represent the middle class, when everything they campaign on is aimed at minorities, illegal aliens, the ignorant, and the poor? What have they done for middle class Americans other than to raise their taxes, lower their self-esteem, and attempt to destroy their national pride? What have they done for the country other than to divide it, criticize it, regulate it and tax it?

These moronic socialists running Congress today claim to represent the American people, but do they? How would they even know as long as they are living in a box with two left sides? Winning the last congressional election does not translate into the American people supporting the views of the liberal left. Democrats didn't win the last election on their liberal ideology and negative campaigning against the President. Republicans lost it by failing to show leadership in supporting the conservative ideology of their voter base.

The President is not "defying the will of the American people," as Democrats like to say, by continuing the war against terrorism in Iraq. He is defying the will of the antiwar liberals on the left and those who use it as a political wedge. The majority of the American people do not support the Democrats' surrender position on the war in Iraq. They want us out through achieving a successful mission, which the Democrat vipers in Congress are making more difficult and deadly everyday with their pessimism.

If you want to talk about the President "defying the will of the American people," then let's get real and talk about immigration reform. The President is "defying the will of the American people" on immigration reform and with full approval of the Democrats, but I don't hear them mentioning that little issue.

In fact, I don't hear them talking much about it at all. They would rather just sneak the bill through with back room deals made with labor unions and La Raza, and hope that nobody sees it. Not so fast! There are enough real Republicans in Congress to prevent this betrayal of the country and the American people, from ever becoming law.

The President is not being "given a blank check" for the war, as Pelosi and Reid like to assert. He requested $100 billion to conduct operations of national defense, which Democrats continue to oppose and complain about, and that is the amount on the check - plus $17 billion in Democrat pork bribes just to get it. A supplemental appropriation with a fixed amount is not a "blank check." If Democrats are so against issuing a "blank check" for national defense, then why do they keep doing it? When Dems say, "we support the troops," just remember what it took to get that minimal amount of support from them.

Another clich� the Democrats are fond of using is "bipartisanship". Again, this is intended to give the impression that they have a two party consensus and a mandate from the American People. All they need is one Republican to join the Democrat block vote to call any legislation "bipartisan". When you hear Democrats say, "This bill has bipartisan support," or "this was the result of a bipartisan effort," it usually isn't. It just means that a few RINOS are grazing in the Dems' pasture.

The Democrat Party is split between American Democrats and socialist/Marxist Democrats. It is just not possible to please both sides anymore than it is possible to please both liberals and conservatives with compromised legislation when it involves principle and American values. This has become a major problem for Dem candidates and puts them in the position of having to pretend to be in support of both sides of every issue. Some will take a firm stand on one side and hope that side wins the majority, while others like Mrs. Clinton say one thing one day and just the opposite the next. Or they say nothing at all until they see the results of their media polling before deciding which side to support.

The Founding Fathers of this country never intended for Congress to be a full time job because they never intended for government to become as big as it has. Now we have 500 people holding full time careers doing nothing but occupying their time by making up new laws and finding ways of spending our money. Every law they pass represents just one more restriction on our freedom. Is it any wonder that we feel over-regulated, over-controlled, and over-taxed by the government? Isn't it time for the Federal Government to be cut back to what the Constitution authorizes it to be, and those excess powers be returned to the states and the people? Or are we one day going to have to take it back by force?

The bottom line is. This 110 Congress is a joke. Most everything they do is strictly for show and political pandering. But the fact is, as seen in the legislation below, that most of the work being done by Congress is being done on our TV screens, and not on the floor of Congress. The greatest product they have produced over the past 5 months is not legislation, but daily anti-American propaganda. It seems that politicians today want to be TV stars and TV stars want to be politicians. Before long, I think most people will agree that we have little use for either of them.

For your amusement and justifiable ridicule, here is a list of all 26 great accomplishments that the Democrats are so proud of:

HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES

1. H.R.49 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1300 North Frontage Road West in Vail, Colorado, as the "Gerald R. Ford, Jr. Post Office Building".

2. H.R.137 : To amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting, and for other purposes.

3. H.R.188 : To provide a new effective date for the applicability of certain provisions of law to Public Law 105-331.

4. H.R.335 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 152 North 5th Street in Laramie, Wyoming, as the "Gale W. McGee Post Office".

5. H.R.342 : To designate the United States courthouse located at 555 Independence Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the "Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. United States Courthouse".

6. H.R.433 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1700 Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the "Scipio A. Jones Post Office Building".

7. H.R.434 : An act to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small business Investment Act of 1958 through July 31, 2007, and for other purposes.

8. H.R.475 : To revise the composition of the House of Representatives Page Board to equalize the number of members representing the majority and minority parties and to include a member representing the parents of pages and a member representing former pages, and for other purposes.

9. H.R.514 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 16150 Aviation Loop Drive in Brooksville, Florida, as the "Sergeant Lea Robert Mills Brooksville Aviation Branch Post Office".

10. H.R.521 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2633 11th Street in Rock Island, Illinois, as the "Lane Evans Post Office Building".

11. H.R.544 : To designate the United States courthouse at South Federal Place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the "Santiago E. Campos United States Courthouse".

12. H.R.577 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3903 South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, as the "Sergeant Henry Ybarra III Post Office Building".

13. H.R.584 : To designate the Federal building located at 400 Maryland Avenue Southwest in the District of Columbia as the 'Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building'.

14. H.R.727 : To amend the Public Health Service Act to add requirements regarding trauma care, and for other purposes.

15. H.R.742 : To amend the Antitrust Modernization Commission Act of 2002, to extend the term of the Antitrust Modernization Commission and to make a technical correction.

16. H.R.753 : To redesignate the Federal building located at 167 North Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee, as the "Clifford Davis and Odell Horton Federal Building".

17. H.R.988 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 5757 Tilton Avenue in Riverside, California, as the "Lieutenant Todd Jason Bryant Post Office".

18. H.R.1003 : To amend the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 to reauthorize the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

19. H.R.1129 : To provide for the construction, operation, and maintenance of an arterial road in St. Louis County, Missouri.

20. H.R.1130 : To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to extend the authority to withhold from public availability a financial disclosure report filed by an individual who is a judicial officer or judicial employee, to the extent necessary to protect the safety of that individual or a family member of that individual, and for other purposes.

21. H.R.1132 : To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide waivers relating to grants for preventive health measures with respect to breast and cervical cancers.

22. H.R.1681 : To amend the Congressional Charter of The American National Red Cross to modernize its governance structure, to enhance the ability of the board of governors of The American National Red Cross to support the critical mission of The American National Red Cross in the 21st century, and for other purposes.

UNITED STATES SENATE

1. S.159 : A bill to redesignate the White Rocks National Recreation Area in the State of Vermont as the "Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area".

2. S.494 : A bill to endorse further enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and to facilitate the timely admission of new members to NATO, and for other purposes.

3. S.521 : A bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse and customhouse located at 515 West First Street in Duluth, Minnesota, as the "Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building and United States Courthouse and Customhouse".

4. S.1002 : A bill to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to reinstate certain provisions relating to the nutrition services incentive program.

References

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/L?d110:./list/bd/d110pn.lst:2[2-23](Public_Laws:_House_Bills)|TOM:/bss/d110query.html

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/L?d110:./list/bd/d110pn.lst:24[24-27](Public_Laws:_Senate_Bills)|TOM:/bss/d110query.html