Posted on 10/22/2013 9:24:18 AM PDT by WhyNotFreedom?
Cruz, Lee, Gettysburg and Wet Cement
by Colin Hanna and Ken Hagerty
In July 1863 two armies converged around the little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Neither army foresaw a major battle on that ground, let alone the turning point of the entire Civil War. The Confederates were simply searching for a supply of shoes rumored to be in the town. When they stumbled across some Union cavalry, both sides called-in reinforcements, and then more, and before long a full-scale battle stood up.
At no point on that first day in Gettysburg could either side have explained what the “end game” of their early skirmishes would bring. They simply took the opportunities that developed and fought their opponents with everything they had.
In early June of this year, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), who is a serious student of the Constitution, concluded that President Obama was violating the Constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers and his oath of office by unilaterally announcing “waivers” of certain parts of his Affordable Care Act that he found inconvenient. The Senator decided that if the President wouldn’t follow his own law, Congress should refuse to fund it – a perfectly Constitutional exercise of its power of the purse. He called in reinforcements, including his friend, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Together they sounded a war horn on a website called “Dontfundit.com,” and launched an apparently quixotic campaign to defund Obamacare.
Their call to battle may have seemed naïve because neither Cruz nor Lee could offer a tactical “end game” for prevailing in the overall budget negotiations. Instead they argued that the new law was a job-killing disaster, and defunding it was essential to preserve both fairness and freedom in this country. Simply allowing Obamacare to “collapse on its own,” as some of their colleagues advocated would give the toxic new law ample time to pull down the entire private health insurance industry along with it.
The senators’ defunding campaign resonated with conservative Republicans in the House who had promised to do everything they could to repeal Obamacare. So throughout the summer and into the fall the Don’t Fund It Coalition waged a high profile campaign that educated millions of Americans on the need to repeal Obamacare. As a result of that battle, and against the early odds, the House Republicans pulled together a majority to pass a Continuing Resolution that funded the entire federal government—but crossed-out Obamacare.
The media and establishment Republicans continually harp on the fact that Cruz and Lee never had a way to prevail at the tactical level in the budget battle. Some now list them as “losers” because of that. But that verdict is premature. It ignores the enormous progress their Don’t Fund It Campaign has achieved in the underlying war against Obamacare itself.
Before the Cruz-Lee initiative lots of Republican and Democrat candidates were saying that faulty as Obamacare might be, it is the law, and there was no way to repeal it. Those legislators pretended their only option was to try to repair it.
But Cruz and Lee have kept the cement of the Affordable Care Act from drying as the President’s health care law finally went into effect. Because of their campaign, it can still be stopped.
The disastrous introduction of the Obamacare exchanges is revealing much more than mere system glitches. The public is beginning to grasp the magnitude of the lies that were told to swindle Congress into passing it. And as the truth emerges, both voters and candidates now recognize there is more than enough opposition to Obamacare to postpone it, and eventually repeal it. Both Republican and Democrat candidates now realize they will be forced to take a position on repealing or preserving Obamacare in the next election cycle.
No Republican is going to be elected next year without committing to repeal this monstrosity. That shifts the strategic situation fundamentally. It’s why the American people now can win the war over Obamacare.
Only in retrospect was the battle of Gettysburg recognized as the turning point of the Civil War. We predict that in the future, when we look back on the historic rejection of Obamacare, the Cruz-Lee Don’t Fund It Campaign will be recognized as an equally strategic turning point in its collapse. (Hat-tip to Byron York, quoting an unnamed Republican Congressman, who first suggested the Gettysburg analogy.)
Colin Hanna is president of Let Freedom Ring. Ken Hagerty is a public policy strategist in Washington, D.C.
bttt
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Cruz & Lee are heroes of the Republic.
I have been thinking all along that both Cruz and Lee knew that defunding Obumercare was a long shot but the objective was to hold ALL politicians accountable. Obumercare is anissue in the coming election cycle. The cost, lies, and truth about Obumercare will be a focal point in next years congressional election and there will be hell to pay.
Smart brave cookies these two are for dragging the complicant elite along for the ride. And now that the proof is out about the GOPe making deals with Dingy Harry McConnel’s and Boner’s days are numbered.
Agreed!
It’s lonely out there when you seekh the truth and no one else does but then you read this and come back to reality. Cruz is right. And any republican who doesn’t side with him now will regret it
My only complaint, is that it is the public who are being swindled. The Republican Congress never supported Øbomascam - the dhimmicrat Congress foisted this entire wreck upon the American people entirely on their own.
everyone should read this.
A good litmus test for Repubs is “where were you when Ted Cruz was standing up there by himself?”
Too true !!
everyone should read this.
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Great article >
Only in retrospect was the battle of Gettysburg recognized as the turning point of the Civil War. We predict that in the future, when we look back on the historic rejection of Obamacare, the Cruz-Lee Don’t Fund It Campaign will be recognized as an equally strategic turning point in its collapse.
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