By Rick Manning
Three things happened in the world of politics last week that are important, but each likely escaped the notice of a vast majority of Americans because they weren’t widely reported.
The House Republicans effectively waived a white flag before a shot was even fired in the battle over whether the U.S. government should turn over control of the Internet to unaccountable, foreign bureaucrats (aka multi-national stakeholders.)
They did so by passing legislation out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee called the DOTCOM act, which seeks a delay in transferring web control over to an unknown international group until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) can complete a report on the subject.
In true, Washington, D.C. style, when the fate of U.S. control over the Internet is at stake, House Republicans ask for a study. Incredibly, they did not even demand that the Internet not be turned over by Obama without a concurring vote of Congress. Nope, those hardliners in the House Republican Conference know how to draw a line in the sand over perhaps the biggest issue facing the First Amendment freedoms of generations to come — they beg for the decision to be delayed until a study can be completed. Not shocking, but disappointingly predictable.
Another headline swirled around DC this weekend as the left of center publication Politico produced an article titled, “GOP Leaders Reconsider Rand Paul.”
Apparently, Paul’s schmoozing of the mainstream Republican illuminati is having its desired effect as suddenly the man who seemed to be the ultimate anti-establishment Senator has become acceptable.
Perhaps it is Paul’s endorsement of the ultimate D.C. insider Mitch McConnell for election that started his descent.
But there can be little doubt that Paul’s statement on honest elections to The New York Times. “I think it’s wrong for Republicans to go too crazy on this issue because it’s offending people,” gave comfort to those Party moderates who fear a backlash from those who are perpetually offended.
The irony of this statement is that the concern flies in the face of philosophy that Paul’s first name represents. By accepting the relevance of those who claim victimhood at the drop of the hat does violence to truth at its core. In fact, it puts the self-proclaimed victim’s feelings ahead of rational solutions to ensure fair and honest elections.
Yet, Rand Paul jumps right into the debate legitimizing the claims of the offended in the pages of the paper of record for the politics of victimhood.
If Senator Paul feels that the push for honest elections is not worth going too crazy over, one wonders what he thinks is worthwhile?
Just a few months back, while Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee were making a courageous stand against the continued funding of Obamacare, Paul’s voice was barely a whisper.
It is not unreasonable to assume that Paul’s conformation to the cozy little club of 100 Senators plays a large part in his new-found mainstream acceptance. In retrospect, even his filibuster over whether U.S. drones could kill American citizens on U.S. soil, seems pale in retrospect.
The next few months may help us learn who presidential candidate Paul is going to be, and if his supporters are listening and watching, they should be disturbed at his sudden acceptability.
While Senator Paul emerges in the way too early presidential discussion, Senator Sessions, an actual workhorse for limited government, brought to the nation’s attention the perhaps irreparable damage being done to our nation’s finances by Obama’s proposed fiscal path.
Sessions noted, “Today, the Congressional Budget Office released its estimation of the President’s FY15 budget plan. According to CBO’s estimate, the President’s plan will bring annual interest payments on the debt to $838 billion in one single year. That single year’s payment will be more than 82 times what we’ll spend on the FBI in that year and nearly 17 times what we’ll spend on the federal highway and road safety budget.”
Putting this into perspective, Obama, Reid and Boehner were all in a tizzy over the horrific impacts of the federal government sequester, which cut the actual amount of money the government spent. The impact was predicted to be disastrous, and now the tally is in.
With a federal civilian workforce in excess of 2 million, a small one percent reduction in force would cut the numbers by 20,000, but that didn’t occur.
A quarter of one percent reduction in the civilian workforce would have netted 5,000 layoffs, but not even that threshold was reached.
No, Reason Magazine reports that the number of civilian federal employees who lost their jobs due to sequester totaled — ONE.
One poor joker in the Justice Department’s Parole Division lost his job. Apparently, he or she was the fraud, waste and abuse they were looking for.
Heck, even the guy at the EPA who it was discovered spends two to three hours a day looking at pornography on the taxpayer dime kept his job.
And that is all you have to know about D.C., our nation plummets toward fiscal destruction, while a supposed champion of change play footsy with the establishment, and Congress continues to move meaningless legislation in an attempt to brazenly fool the people into thinking they are taking action.
Just another week in your nation’s Capitol.
Rick Manning is vice president of public policy and communications for Americans for Limited Government.
