THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 119, May 25, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
JUDICIAL FILIBUSTER "COMPROMISE": AMERICA BETRAYED
By Christopher Adamo
THE SELLOUT: THE SOCALLED "COMPROMISE" OF MAY 23, 2005 -- THE SURRENDER BY SEVEN SOCALLED "MODERATE"
REPUBLICANS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE TO THE LEFTWING LIBERAL DEMOCRATS' FILIBUSTER OF REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT
GEORGE W. BUSH'S JUDICIAL NOMINEES -- WILL CONSERVATIVES COME TO GRIPS WITH THE FACT THAT FIFTY-TWO TRULY
CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN SENATORS WOULD CONSTITUTE A BETTER & MORE RELIABLE MAJORITY THAN A LARGER
SENATE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY CONTAINING "MODERATES" READY & WILLING TO BETRAY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY & ITS
LEADERSHIP, COLLABORATE WITH LIBERAL LEFTIST DEMOCRATS, & UNDERMINE THE CONSERVATIVE ENDEAVOR TO RESTORE
CONSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY TO THE UNITED STATES COURTS
FULL STORY:
It will be some time before the full impact of this week’s sellout by seven
socalled “Moderate” Republicans in the U.S. Senate becomes completely
apparent. The plan to break Democratic Party filibusters of Republican President George W. Bush's judicial nominees was,
in reality, no less than a Republican fight to restore the integrity of the United States
Constitution. But, in the face of the Republican defections, Democrats will
now credibly claim to have protected the Constitution, and the nation as a whole, from the
ravages of Republican “extremism.”
Despite media spin, this arrangement was no agreement among “Centrists” from
both parties. The seven Democrats who participated in the deal acted as
devoted foot soldiers for Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, loyally doing
his bidding.
In contrast, the seven Republican participants knowingly betrayed their own
party’s leadership. Were Newsweek magazine to objectively cover the event,
it might show them flushing the U.S. Constitution down the toilet.
In return for their complete abandonment of efforts to restore
constitutional integrity to the judiciary, Republicans essentially got
nothing. The “concession” by Democrats to “allow” (Any doubts as to who is
in control?) floor votes on nominees Brown, Owen, and Pryor amounts to
little more than the worst sort of tokenism.
Furthermore, the Democrats' promises to only revert to judicial filibusters under
“extraordinary circumstances” are an insult to the intelligence of any
cognizant Republican (of which there are admittedly few).
Democrats have already shown the degree to which they can torture new
meanings out of such straightforward terms as “is” and “sex.” In their
minds, the traditional values of mainstream America already easily exceed
the boundaries of “extraordinary.”
In truth, Monday’s surrender was only the latest in a long series of such
capitulations by Republicans at critical moments in the country’s political
discourse.
Former Senator Bob Dole (R.-KS) ushered in the present era of GOP
backtracking when he uttered his famous “enough is enough” retreat on the
budget battle of 1995, unconditionally surrendering to Bill Clinton.
Far worse was the manner in which Republicans, including several real
Conservatives, abandoned their core principles and rallied to the side of
ultra-Liberal New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman in her razor-thin 1997
re-election bid. Coming to her aid to a degree rarely displayed in any
gubernatorial race, Republican and Conservative leaders essentially told the
entire “Moderate” (read: Liberal) wing of the Republican Party that it can always
expect blind loyalty from the Right.
Whitman repaid Conservatives four years later by siding with Liberals at a
crucial point in the campaign of her potential successor, Bret Schundler,
helping secure victory for his Democratic opponent, Jim McGreevey. But were
her actions really contrary to her well known ultra-Liberal political and
moral philosophies?
Last year, President Bush helped set the stage for the sellout of his own
judicial nominees by aiding one of the Republican Party’s most contemptible
Senate “Trojan horses,” Pennsylvania “Moderate” Arlen Specter. By his
actions, the President clearly made a statement that, no matter how
antithetical to Conservatism Republican officeholders might be, in a pinch,
they can count on Conservative support.
Though Specter did not directly participate in the “compromise agreement”
devised by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, his vocal endorsement of such
efforts certainly emboldened those Republicans who did.
So, should anyone be surprised when “Moderates” fearlessly undermine valiant
Conservative efforts, such as Senate Majority leader Bill Frist’s fight to
restore a constitutional judiciary? What has the party leadership, and
indeed the President himself, ever shown them they might have to lose by
such duplicity?
The only glimmer of light at the end of this dismal tunnel is that
Conservatives may have finally awakened to the fact that, by their
consistent support of traitors in their midst, they have helped degenerate
the situation to its present state. This approach to achieving “majority”
status has been an utter disaster. Thus, a change in political strategy is
the first step towards rectifying the situation.
Three Senate Republicans who engaged in this week’s treachery, Olympia Snowe
of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mike Dewine of Ohio, are up
for reelection next year. Conservative activists should immediately begin to
organize efforts to see them defeated by any candidate who runs against
them.
Conservatives had better come to grips with the fact that fifty-two real
Republican (i.e., truly Conservative) Senators would constitute a better majority than fifty-five who
think they can engage in such disloyalty with impunity. Otherwise, Conservatives must
resign themselves to the grim prospect that such treacherous and disloyal people as
"Moderate" Republicans and the Leftwing Liberal Democrats with whom they willingly collaborate do
indeed run the country.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
American Government & the U.S. Congress
American Politics & Political Competition
Appointment of U.S. Federal Judges
Legal Issues, Lawyers, & America's Judiciary
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian. Adamo maintains his own Internet website, which is located at
www.chrisadamo.com.
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