Lame Duck has to go

Jim Leahy

What would have happen if in 2006, in a lame duck session of congress, the outgoing GOP majority repealed Social Security as we know it by mandating personal private accounts? Then the next day the Department of Education was closed down? Then the next day the Department of Commerce was closed? And as a topper the congress put a flat tax in place? All promises made to voters by Republican candidates and legitimate policy positions for conservative voters.

Do you think the Main Stream Media (MSM) would have been talking of George W Bush as the Come Back Kid? Would the MSM be happy that W had lived up to campaign promises? Would the MSM call it “W’s rebound”? All of the above have been done this week referencing President Obama and the Lame Duck Congress actions. You bet your behinds they wouldn’t! There would have been more calls for impeachment than there were for the (still in place) Patriot act!

There would have been Headlines proclaiming that the bills have been passed by a congress that is at the lowest polling level since polling was started (Until this congress). There would have been calls for abolishment of Lame Duck Congress’s for ever. There would have been calls for the incoming congress to repeal everything the Lame Duck Congress passed in total and demands for investigations by the new congress bypassing the Department of Justice. In the MSM view it would have been the beginning of the end of our democracy. But the opposite has been the case for this Congress and the MSM.

What the hell is going on? Didn’t we just have an election? Didn’t the American people just give these people the boot? There was a historic election that gave the Republicans one of the largest land slide victories in the history of the country. It went from coast to coast from Municipal offices to Governors, State Legislatures, The House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Only 6 weeks ago there was this huge wave that was supposed to change everything. And what did we get? We got liberalism on steroids! None of this could have been passed by a Congress wanting reelection; proven by the fact that none of it passed when the liberals ran every part of government, with a veto proof majority in the Senate, until they had nothing to lose.

Let’s look at what has happened since November 2nd 2010. The Feds are now in charge of what our kids eat (FDA), they have taken over the internet (FCC), and they have implemented a policy of searching people at the airports that a decade ago would have caused a fury (TSA). They have now mandated that homosexuality be accepted by people even if its against their religion.They are giving up our National Security advantage by negating our Missile defense system in the START Treaty with the Russians. They have also caused the price of oil to skyrocket by killing our offshore oil industry. And they have made the Unemployment System into a new unending welfare program that has nothing to do with insurance anymore. And all we get is cheers from our self proclaimed protectors in the MSM.




Until last week, I would have said “That’s why the new conservative media is growing” but now I’m not as optimistic that the new media can or will be able to keep the government in check. Where are all of the civil libertarians right and left who were everywhere during the Bush administration? Where are the Tea Party’s? Why the different reactions?

Can or will this be reversed by the new Congress? Some things like the START Treaty can’t be. Will the new members who claim to be Tea Party members remember why they were elected? Can we ever get our liberties that have been lost back? If history is any illustration, sadly, no. What can we do to make sure this never happens again?

I think that future Lame Duck Congresses should be severely limited on what they can pass. Maybe if congress doesn’t finish its work in the future; an automatic continuing resolution to keep the government running will go into place until the newly elected congress is sworn in. If there is an emergency the new Congress could be seated a month early so we can be sure to have people who are accountable to the electorate making these important votes. The process we have now leaves room for abuse by a failed leadership to pass legislation without any checks and balances. One thing is for sure this can’t be allowed to happen again.