You ask me if I will not be glad when the last battle is fought, so far as the country is concerned I, of course, must wish for peace, and will be glad when the war is ended, but if I answer for myself alone, I must say that I shall regret to see the war end.
George Armstrong Custer
From the very beginning the media saw the threat of ordinary Americans taking to local parks and town halls expressing worries about the direction of the nation. Just as fast the media leapt on this leaderless group with a series of derogatory assessments. At any given time over the past four years the Tea Party has been racist, poor whites, wealthy, intransigent and now they are being portrayed as all of the above. Of course the media was providing cover for the White House even if it meant demeaning grandmothers that made the big mistake of getting out of their lanes.
The movement has grown and has become a power on Capitol Hill and in the process has become an even larger target of those worried about the status quo or speed bumps in longer term plans to rid America of the Constitution, God and the notion of rugged individualism. Entrenched interest in Washington hoped the organization, which is really a series of organizations which is really just a bunch of local people that care, would implode or stumble in the rough and tumble world of Washington politics. There is a giant difference between opining on poor government policy and anti-American agendas from afar than in the midst of it all.
Getting off the sidelines and into the game means understanding the game because the grass from which one protests is different than that of the playing field.
Battle of Little Big Horn Revisited?
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The House took its shot at using the combination of continuing resolution and higher debt ceiling as the battlefield for a last ditch attempt to slow the new healthcare law which is already taking a massive toll on employment, ripping patients from doctors and looming large as a Sword of Damocles over the future economy of America. I think the first salvo should've been a request for a one year delay on the individual mandate rather than a break on medical excise tax which is petty and will lead to less research which means people will die sooner than they have to in the future.
But that point is harder to make to a public that, unlike those motivated citizens that decided to get out of their chairs and say something, are too busy toggling the television back and forth between zombies and football. But everyone would have understood the notion of regular people getting the same treatment as big businesses. It's a moot point for now although a lesson for the future. So, that opportunity has passed and poll numbers have plummeted and its unlikely Democrats will let up on the pounding.
A public relations victory is at hand for the White House, albeit a short term victory as any deal will have an expiration date not longer than a gallon of milk bought this week. I suspect the idea will be to keep the pressure on making this more than a public relations loss for Republicans. In the meantime the Obamacare roll out has been a Grand Canyon-sized disaster that is treated like a fender bender in the press. Make no mistake there will be an effort to make this the Republican version of Little Big Horn.
Of course the difference between Custer and today's GOP is all of the brash general's men held firm in unity. The implosion of the GOP party makes them all more vulnerable.
For me this is a debacle because we are still talking bigger government, massive debt, outrageous deficits, more taxes, and more excuses that encourage kids to drop out of society as their parent's paychecks erode while prices for everyday goods increases.
Fiscal policy, never intended on growing the economy in the first place, puts the nation in a position to beg the world for more loans and the Fed to print more money.
This is a suicidal path promoted by people that call their opponents mean for trying to block it. But the masses are buying the idea that spending money one doesn't have is sane and the only way to feed babies.
For a nation where a can do spirit seemed to be stamped on the bare feet of each newborn the new welfare, victimization, can't do blame someone else aura is a shockingly dispirited reality.
Custer lost that day but in the end his spirited fight might have been an even larger victory that inspired many and continues to be legendary to this day. Not sure that would be the case today and I wonder if combatants know the difference between pulling back to regroup without feeling like they're giving up.
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