Webster’s dictionary defines lame duck as, “an elected official still in office but not slated to continue.”
Most Americans define a lame duck Congress as the guys they just booted out and don’t want them doing any more damage.
Obama’s White House defines lame duck as the opportunity to pass legislation that is so outrageous that not even the Pelosi-Reid Congress would vote in favor of it before the November election.
The lame duck Congress of 2010 contains the hopes and dreams of radical environmentalists and Big Labor as both hope to pass major pieces of legislation after the November elections that could permanently alter the economic landscape of the United States.
Big Labor is looking for their holy grail — card check legislation, which would eliminate the nasty inconvenience of having to submit the question of whether a company should be unionized to a secret ballot election of those who would be their members. You see, when the actual workers get to vote in secret, sometimes they actually vote against joining the collective.
Even with 59 Democrats in the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has disappointed his most ardent supporters by failing to deliver legislation that fundamentally shifts the balance of power in labor organizing toward the coercive influence of the potential shop steward. It seems that Big Labor and Harry Reid have a problem, the voters don’t want the card check legislation to pass in such sufficient numbers that Senate Democrats cannot overcome a filibuster against the bill.
So, the answer is lame duck it.
Al Gore and his environmentalist profiteers face similar challenges. Their scheme to convince Congress to pass legislation that would allow them to make billions of dollars off of trading a new congressionally created product called carbon credits has stalled in Congress due to increased skepticism about whether global warming is actually occurring and if it is, are the causes man-made. Of course, the fact that the average American will see his/her household energy bill skyrocket by an estimated $1,761 annually, according to Obama’s own Treasury, has also slowed down the enthusiasm to line the pockets of Mr. Inconvenient Truth.
What is an ambitious politician to do when faced with widespread voter rejection of policies that he/she holds near and dear to their hearts? Wait until after the elections are over, and pass it then.
That’s right, lame duck it.
If America’s voters had any doubts about the intentions of the current Pelosi-Reid Congress to pass sweeping legislation in the wake of their likely rejection in November, Republican Congressman Tom Price removed them.
Pelosi and her Democratic Party cohorts blocked a Price resolution by a 236-163 margin which would have put the promise in place that the House of Representatives would not use a lame duck session for any purpose other than a true national emergency.
It is clear that a lame duck strategy is in place, and this Congress is intent on not going away until the newly elected 112th Congress physically takes away their offices, staff, and voting privileges at midnight on January 3, 2011.
It can’t come soon enough.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
