This new congress is capable of huge success . . . . . by simply DOING NOTHING

[PHILIP SCHNEIDER]

Conservatives lead by the TEA PARTY

can change from the PARTY OF (NO)

to the PARTY OF (DO-NOTHING) and accomplish a necessary change.

Slowing Down Congress

Posted by hogan (Profile)

Tuesday, January 4th at 10:10AM EST

How can it possibly be bad to have mechanisms in place that slow down Congress?

In the 111th Congress, there were 4059 bills introduced in theSenate, and 6561 bills introduced in the House - resulting in 342 lawsenacted.

In the 110th Congress, there were 3741 bills introduced in theSenate, and 7336 bills introduced in the House - resulting in 460 lawsenacted.

This all the while - gasp - the rules of the Senate require 60 votesto shut off debate before proceeding to a matter or voting on it, oftenreferred to as the filibuster.

So, what’s the problem? Does anyone in America - besides thearrogant Democrats in Congress who have been engaged in anunprecedented power grab since being handed a historic defeat by theAmerican people last November - honestly believe that Congress needs topass more legislation?

Do a better job? Sure. But MORE? Of course not.

 

Much is being made of the need to change the rules of the Senate sothat it does not take 60 votes at various stages in the legislativeprocess. To have such a threshold is said to be unfair andundemocratic. And, to be sure, I have no doubt that some Republicansbelieve this would be a good thing so that we have a better shot atupending Obamacare.

But the simple truth is that the only thing standing between us anda non-stop barrage of federal “solutions” to our “problems” is the 60vote requirement. Even more, eliminating this requirement will createan extremely volatile legislative environment, where even the littledeliberation and debate we have today is tossed aside in favor of“doing something.”

You see - when Congress starts saying “we need to do something,” weshould all hunker down and pray that they not actually do it. “Doingsomething” means that Washington amasses more power, federalism and theConstitution are ignored and liberty suffers.

The filibuster, actual (i.e. Mr. Smith Goes toWashington) or via voting procedures (i.e. 60 vote threshold), isinherently conservative. The slower that Congress can enactlegislation, the less damage it can do.

For those concerned about getting votes to overturn liberalism suchas Obamacare - don’t be. We can win that by taking it to the Americanpeople. It would be far worse to arm Washington politicians with theability to pass legislation more easily and to “do more.”