Posted on 08/24/2010 9:50:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
So the "summer of recovery" swelters on, with Democrats sun-blistered, pestered by bottle flies, sand in their swimsuits, water in their ears. Jobless claims increase, Republicans lead the generic congressional ballot, and George W. Bush is six points more popular than President Obama in "front-line" Democratic districts that are most vulnerable to a Republican takeover. Still, Democrats hug the hope that Obama is really the liberal Ronald Reagan -- but without wit, humor, an explainable ideology or an effective economic plan. Other than that, the resemblance is uncanny.
Yet the Republican Party suffers its own difficulty -- an untested ideology at the core of its appeal.
In the normal course of events, political movements begin as intellectual arguments, often conducted for years in serious books and journals. To study the Tea Party movement, future scholars will sift through the collected tweets of Sarah Palin. Without a history of clarifying, refining debates, Republicans need to ask three questions of candidates rising on the Tea Party wave:
First, do you believe that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional? This seems to be the unguarded view of Colorado Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck and other Tea Party advocates of "constitutionalism." It reflects a conviction that the federal government has only those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution -- which doesn't mention retirement insurance or health care.
This view is logically consistent -- as well as historically uninformed, morally irresponsible and politically disastrous. The Constitution, in contrast to the Articles of Confederation, granted broad power to the federal government to impose taxes and spend funds to "provide for . . . the general welfare"
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Sounds like another Frum has crawled out of the DC cesspool.
Washington Post Dysinformation
Mr. Gerson is toxic for America and Constitution.
Toxic ? In my book and i got a BIG book we aren’t nearly Toxic enough Like a Vampire RINO’s should be Vanishing in the sunshine and Democrats should at the very least be in Public Stocks {the kind with three holes and a lock} On display for everyone to get a good look at what a Traitor to their Country is ...
Or a core belief in the ability of those he's addressing. That can be a real hurdle to overcome.
If the tea party is toxic to the GOP then he'd better figure on the GOP dying out. We're not going away. The CC republicans can either get with the program or get out of office.
I know the MSM will be braying like crazy, but don't listen to them. We're a force to be reconned, that's all there is to it. We're the American people and as much as the "ruling classes" like to think we're not necessary.....without us, they have nobody to buy their stuff or pay the taxes.
yitbos
Screw this LibTard RINO.
Idiots like THIS is why the Bush Presidency was a DISASTER that gave us Speaker Pelosi.
oops reckoned with.
Yet a other establishment wonk looking for a job for the 2012 election cycle.
Yo. Bubba... Gerson... Wrong tree to be screeching up at. The tea party IS the GOP base. Without us, the GOP is dead. Comprende amigo?
It’s guys like you we are looking to force into permanent retirement. We are sick of the disease you and thoselike you spread. Soft tyranny. We don’t need a nanny state.
We need a whole lot LESS government. TON less. ablot less of people like you, Gerson. Can you hear us now?
I didn’t read the entire thing but I think the Tea party could very easily work against the pubs just like the “reform” party and Perot elected Clintoon twice....
This scumbag Gerson is a Democrat! Democrats love that catch-all "general welfare" loophole because it means government can do anything it wants, and renders the rest of the Constitution essentially meaningless.
This view is logically consistent -- as well as historically uninformed, morally irresponsible and politically disastrous. The Constitution, in contrast to the Articles of Confederation, granted broad power to the federal government to impose taxes and spend funds to "provide for . . . the general welfare"
Who should I believe, Michael Gerson who is writing for the Washington Post or James Madison who was the Father of the Constitution?
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." - James Madison criticizing an attempt to grant public monies for charitable means, 1794
The Constitution granted broader powers to the federal government, but not infinitely broad. They are still limited by Article 1 section 8 -- or at least they would be if the courts, Congress or the president bothered to read that dusty old document they swore an oath to defend.
Excellent post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2570416/posts
Politico: Bush aide (Michael Gerson) backs Obama on mosque
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