They aren’t your ordinary Republicans
Feb 10, 2009 Governmental Reach, Obama Administration
There has been quite a bit of talk from disgusted conservatives over the votes of Senators Specter, Collins, and Snowe. I’m disgusted, too, but there are a few considerations to be made.
1. These aren’t your ordinary Republicans, and that might just be part of the territory, literally. Consider that both Snowe and Collins are from Maine and that this is likely the only form of “Republican” that can be elected in these areas, at least at this time. Specter has been around a while and for whatever reason keeps getting re-elected. Again, there is nothing to suggest we are going to go from him to an ultra-conservative replacement. Sometimes we get jipped in the deal, and this is one of those times.
2. We need these people on other issues. Regardless of what anyone says, a guy like Arlen Specter was likely to go along with this joke of a stimulus bill. I didn’t know tons about Collins or Snowe, but Specter has routinely pulled these kinds of stunts out of his hat at big moments. Perhaps it’s so that when running for election he can boast of “reaching across the aisle” (as if one’s true constituents really want to hear that — how about “doing what’s right and best” as an option?). Still, there are other things that come up including, yes, bigger things like Supreme Court nominations. Specter will soon “owe us one” when it comes to the (very likely) situation where we are going to have to filibuster some joker that Obama nominates for the highest court. You win some, you lose some, and pro-lifers and libertarians alike will see greater results from a less-damaging Supreme Court nomination than they will this joke of a stimulus bill. We are less than four years away from choosing a President who can get us out of this economic mess that is likely to get worse under Obama, but we would be, perhaps, 50 years or more from having recourse to a bad SCOTUS nominee.
3. These three people may have done the conservative/libertarian movement a service in a couple of different ways. First, they were elected (and with a name that generally represents conservatism). Second, they botched their chance at being such, and when this plan crumbles into little pieces in the coming years, they will be exposed and the search will be on to find a true conservative to fill the roles.
There are a lot of people who said that things needed to bottom out to get better. I disagree with the idea that I should help that kind of a thing happen — those who supported this notion have hurt the current situation for themselves and me, alike — but right now we are at a spot where we have nothing else to do but oppose this crazy socialism we are getting going on and root for it’s ultimate failure. As long as there isn’t a whole lot we can do but threaten our representatives with our vote (and some of us asked for this more than others), we might as well just hope this thing bottoms out as quickly as possible and leads to a swift change starting in 2010. I doubt I will ever see the wisdom in rooting for this before election day, but we simply have no choice after it.
When it comes time, be sure to call in the favor owed to you by Senators Specter, Collins, and Snowe. As much as they have hurt us, they can also help us in the future.
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