From Karl Denninger at theburningplatform.com:
The plotting — and abject fear — continues…
(CNN) Prominent conservatives led by Erick Erickson on Thursday called for a unity ticket and a convention fight to stop Republican front-runner Donald Trump, a sign of the growing desperation in the party establishment to find an alternative to the billionaire businessman.
….
“We intend to keep our options open as to other avenues to oppose Donald Trump,” the statement said. “Our multiple decades of work in the conservative movement for free markets, limited government, national defense, religious liberty, life, and marriage are about ideas, not necessarily parties.”
Uh huh.
So let me see if I get this right.
The US House went to the Republicans in the 104th Congress in 1995. With the exception of two terms (110th and 111th Congress) since it has been in the hands of the Republican party — the party of alleged “free markets, limited government, national defense, religious liberty, life and marriage.”
I will note for the peanut gallery that not one dollar can be spent by the Federal Government on anything without the consent of the House. Therefore, for all but four years in the last 20 the Republican Party has permitted, each year, serially and continually:
• Trade “deals” with China, Mexico and others that are one-way, not “free markets.” Ask Fellowes (the shredder company) about how this works, or just look at the myriad restrictions China places on imports while obtaining free access to our markets without any restrictions or tariffs. Not one of the so-called “free trade” deals has resulted in a trade surplus with any target nation — in other words in each and every case the common United States citizen has been screwed.
• The size of government has grown from $2.02 trillion (1995) to $3.8 trillion (2015), an 88% increase. If this is “limited government” would you please explain what would not be?
• National defense has grown from $326 billion to $797 billion, or more than a doubling. That, obviously, is “strong national defense.” How much more do you think we need and why shouldn’t those nations that benefit from our military presence help pay for it ratably in accordance with their GDP?
• Religious liberty — Really? Civil rights prosecutions for wedding cake merchants who happen to be Christians, anyone? The House could have stripped funding from every agency involved in same, but hasn’t. 20 years of Republican purse strings have not done one damn thing for religious liberty.
• Life and marriage — Really? The last 20 years have continued the outrageous abuse of our “family law” courts that routinely strip men of their children and then demand they be absent parents; there has been zero movement to destroy those incentives for bad behavior, and in fact they’ve increased. The states are actually paid bounties by the Federal Government for breaking up homes and creating dependency. This has all continued apace under the time of the Republican holding of The House. If you’re talking about abortion (and you know they are) you might ask exactly why it is that The House continues to fund programs they claim are abhorrent.
So out of five claims we have exactly one that has been met — a “strong military” — but that’s been abusively strong in terms of spending. On the other points raised despite 20+ years of holding The House with only four years of interruption around President Obama’s election the Republican Party has done exactly none of what it claims to stand for despite having the absolute power of the purse required to enact and support all of its claimed agenda.
To continue reading: What The Establishment Fears
