SARAH PALIN: ‘RINO Season Opens Soon And Don’t Hold Back’

[katzenjammer]

And a goodly contingent of folks marching under the tea partier flag have done nothing more than throw gas on the fire. 

K> As has a goodly contingent of folks marching under the party establishment flag (in fact we see it here in the forum almost ever day).  Not to mention the presumed majority leader's promises of punching the Tea Party in the nose, and crushing them everywhere.  (Do you think the old codger had a bit of bourbon in him during those interviews?)

One of the big problems these people seem to have is an unrealistic belief in the purity of politics.  There is a real reason for the saying "those with weak stomachs should not watch sausage or legislation being made."  Being an effective representative in a democracy Constitutional Republic, means knowing how to make sausages and make sure that the product ends up with more of your ingredients than those of your opponent, but knowing full well that it will be well-seasoned with your opponent's ingredients.  You cannot be pure as the driven snow and uncompromising on every jot and tittle of your principles, no matter how small.  You must roll logs if you want to get anything done.

K>  No one objects to the process in theory, what is objectionable is the crap sandwiches that have been delivered out of the process for decades.  Seriously, if the gop (when it has been in power, either in part, or in toto), had actually ever done an even passable job of upholding the oaths they swear at the beginning of each term, and representing the people whom they serve, a great deal of this animosity would have never arisen.

That being said, learning the art of the strategic compromise is hard, and few can master it.  Reagan mastered it and that is why he was so successful, notwithstanding that, when he was elected, the GOP espoused some policies that today would be considered left of center - don't forget that Nixon imposed price controls without batting an eyelash.

The GOP leadership understands that intuitively, although few if any of them have mastered the art.

K> Republican Presidents have been shredded the Constitution for many, many decades.  Again, a large part of the problem.

The folks I'm speaking of reject that concept out of hand.  To them there is no such thing as a good compromise, no matter how strategic and useful.  That is where idiocies like litmus tests come from - the unrealistic belief that what leads to political success is rigid ideological purity, not the ability to know when, where, and how to compromise on one thing in order to get something else that's more valuable.

K> Unfortunately the kinds of "compromises" that the gop establishment has been party to for quite some time have been the type where the statist interests get 80-90% of the pie as a result.

And that seems to be the basic problem:  we have the unreasonable and unrealistic making holy war on the pragmatic, who in turn are not that good at the art of the strategic compromise, even though they have an intuitive sense of what it is.

K> I would re-phrase that as: we have the thoroughly disgusted and long aggrieved making a righteous war on the unprincipled, who are only interested in serving the needs and desires of their true masters.

YMMV

[Bigun]

YMMV

BRAVO!!! Well said!

[aligncare]

I'm certainly under no illusions about the legislative process! In fact I have posted what really goes on in Washington several times here of late and can do so again if you would like!

Being an effective representative of what?  It used to be that we had representatives of the people but that is out the window these days in this once great republic and we now have representatives of the faction willing to pay the most to win the argument with the people left entirely out of the equation! They have no representation in Washington save a VERY few!

I know of no one who expects to get everything they want instantly but they have EVERY right to expect to get at least a crumb now and then and today even that isn't happening!

 

Excellent rant! I feel that same frustration and pain every time I hear the worthless platitudes uttered in congress and in the WH briefing room.