Power Doesn’t Just Corrupt
Or: The Year of the Sand Blaster
It’s been almost a month now, and I apologize for the delay in getting back to this series. In my last post, I related the story of Tea Party backers taking over local unit chair positions, and the establishment hacks being very unhappy about it. Since then, Viginia’s 5th District has elected a new chairman, as well. (He appeared on one of my recent shows, by the way.)
One group that has defined “deafening silence” since then have been the lefty bloggers (and even some establishment GOP types) who had previously been very vocal about the Tea Party Movement and their certainty that it would never be able to have a discernible impact at the ballot box. The reason for their silence now is simple: every one of these local unit chair elections involved, of all things, ballots being cast and counted.
In my last post (part 1 of this series), I also talked about the redistribution of power. This time, I want to make the case for a movement in that direction being absolutely essential to our present struggle.
The Founders laid out very specific powers that were granted to the Federal government, but so granted only by our consent. For months, on my own blog and radio shows, I have been making the case that we should withdraw our consent. This is, indeed, a crucial element in our movement as we go forward.
But we have already begun to do that. Protests and solidarity are well and good, and serve a useful purpose, but instead of spending all our time and energy planning the next round of Independence Day Tea Party events, we have begun to come to terms with two facts.
First of all, we have a greater understanding of our current batch of Congress Critters. We realize that we can make all the noise we want, with crowds as large as we can possibly muster, but they don’t care. They were not listening during the August Revolts of ’09, at town hall meetings in their own districts. TIME magazine issued their “Year In Pictures” publication, while completely ignoring over 1.2 million people surrounding the Capitol last September. And their refusal to care about our voices, way back then, should give us a clear indication of their future course.
Secondly, with that knowledge, we are faced with the reality that Tea Party gatherings serve mostly as an echo chamber, a place for us to gather and remember that we are not in this struggle alone, and an opportunity to meet like-minded local individuals to assist us in the next steps.
Those next steps are being taken, as I alluded to in my last post, within the party structure. Here, I will try to reinforce this resolve, and attempt to lay out the reasons why this is so crucial.
The old adage goes: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. While corruption is rampant, anyone who has dealt with corrosion and oxidation knows that these are just as detrimental.
Corruption can weaken the structure of whatever body it happens to infect, but only when it is exposed can we begin to combat it. Corrosion, on the other hand, begins on the surface and, left unchecked, will eat away at the underlying structure, and its appetite is voracious.
This is a vitally important distinction, and the crux of the dichotomy between the two largest special interest groups in our country today: the Republican and Democrat parties.
The underlying corruption, in both parties, has been exposed to a certain extent in recent years, and even more so of late with the advent of new media and the Tea Party Movement. This is, overall, a good thing.
The damning “but” begins here… But, the Democrat party has been completely overrun by progressives, rooted in Marxist ideology. The corrosion is there, right in the open for all to see, but there are none left to point to it. In the meantime, it has progressed past the point of surface rust and eaten away bits of the party’s structure, leaving the gaping holes exposed.
That corrosion is, for all intents and purposes, inextricably tied to the structure. It cannot be sanded out, much less painted over (as some are attempting to do). The only possible means of repairing it is by way of back-filling those portions that have rusted out.
A few Democrats exist who have not yet been completely wasted away by the corrosion of progressivism. I can only hope they have a large enough supply of Bondo to repair that structure.
The Republican party, in contrast, is under scrutiny even more now, and for very good reasons. (I’ll get into the details on those reasons in Part 3.)
My point, regarding the Republican party, is this: the corruption is rampant, but exposed. The corrosion has largely eaten away the top layer or two of the structure, but it has been noticed. The repair IS possible.
But this corrosion in the Republican ranks is NOT progressivism. Progressivism is the corruption.
The yearning for government power while preaching about limiting the government’s power is the corrosion I’m speaking of.
The corrosion is that born of stagnation. The notion that this person or that one should be given a boost up to the next rung of the political ladder because it’s “their turn.” The closed-minded idea that newcomers must be “taken under the wing” and “shown the ropes” by those who have made a career “on the inside.”
This exclusionary mind-set has been rampant inside the GOP ranks since 1986, and is a complete 180-degree turn from the open-armed rhetoric that Reagan espoused, and which led to an epic landslide on the 1984 Electoral College map.
Republicans have been posturing ever since, scrambling to secure their foothold, their little niche of power, claiming the mantle of “the party of Reagan,” all the while betraying Reagan’s vision of inclusion.
When corrosion has set in, to the point that it has in the Republican Party, there is but one course of action to take. Sandblast it out. The Tea Party Movement, if they plan their steps carefully, can help make 2010 “The Year of the Sandblaster.”
Watch for Part 3 of my series, which will delve into the tactics for doing so.
Until then, thanks for reading.
No related posts.
By clicking the tip jar to the right to the right you can help to keep this site alive.
NRA Blog Updates
On Power – Part 2 of 3
By Bradley ReesPower Doesn’t Just Corrupt
Or: The Year of the Sand Blaster
It’s been almost a month now, and I apologize for the delay in getting back to this series. In my last post, I related the story of Tea Party backers taking over local unit chair positions, and the establishment hacks being very unhappy about it. Since then, Viginia’s 5th District has elected a new chairman, as well. (He appeared on one of my recent shows, by the way.)
One group that has defined “deafening silence” since then have been the lefty bloggers (and even some establishment GOP types) who had previously been very vocal about the Tea Party Movement and their certainty that it would never be able to have a discernible impact at the ballot box. The reason for their silence now is simple: every one of these local unit chair elections involved, of all things, ballots being cast and counted.
In my last post (part 1 of this series), I also talked about the redistribution of power. This time, I want to make the case for a movement in that direction being absolutely essential to our present struggle.
The Founders laid out very specific powers that were granted to the Federal government, but so granted only by our consent. For months, on my own blog and radio shows, I have been making the case that we should withdraw our consent. This is, indeed, a crucial element in our movement as we go forward.
But we have already begun to do that. Protests and solidarity are well and good, and serve a useful purpose, but instead of spending all our time and energy planning the next round of Independence Day Tea Party events, we have begun to come to terms with two facts.
First of all, we have a greater understanding of our current batch of Congress Critters. We realize that we can make all the noise we want, with crowds as large as we can possibly muster, but they don’t care. They were not listening during the August Revolts of ’09, at town hall meetings in their own districts. TIME magazine issued their “Year In Pictures” publication, while completely ignoring over 1.2 million people surrounding the Capitol last September. And their refusal to care about our voices, way back then, should give us a clear indication of their future course.
Secondly, with that knowledge, we are faced with the reality that Tea Party gatherings serve mostly as an echo chamber, a place for us to gather and remember that we are not in this struggle alone, and an opportunity to meet like-minded local individuals to assist us in the next steps.
Those next steps are being taken, as I alluded to in my last post, within the party structure. Here, I will try to reinforce this resolve, and attempt to lay out the reasons why this is so crucial.
The old adage goes: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. While corruption is rampant, anyone who has dealt with corrosion and oxidation knows that these are just as detrimental.
Corruption can weaken the structure of whatever body it happens to infect, but only when it is exposed can we begin to combat it. Corrosion, on the other hand, begins on the surface and, left unchecked, will eat away at the underlying structure, and its appetite is voracious.
This is a vitally important distinction, and the crux of the dichotomy between the two largest special interest groups in our country today: the Republican and Democrat parties.
The underlying corruption, in both parties, has been exposed to a certain extent in recent years, and even more so of late with the advent of new media and the Tea Party Movement. This is, overall, a good thing.
The damning “but” begins here… But, the Democrat party has been completely overrun by progressives, rooted in Marxist ideology. The corrosion is there, right in the open for all to see, but there are none left to point to it. In the meantime, it has progressed past the point of surface rust and eaten away bits of the party’s structure, leaving the gaping holes exposed.
That corrosion is, for all intents and purposes, inextricably tied to the structure. It cannot be sanded out, much less painted over (as some are attempting to do). The only possible means of repairing it is by way of back-filling those portions that have rusted out.
A few Democrats exist who have not yet been completely wasted away by the corrosion of progressivism. I can only hope they have a large enough supply of Bondo to repair that structure.
The Republican party, in contrast, is under scrutiny even more now, and for very good reasons. (I’ll get into the details on those reasons in Part 3.)
My point, regarding the Republican party, is this: the corruption is rampant, but exposed. The corrosion has largely eaten away the top layer or two of the structure, but it has been noticed. The repair IS possible.
But this corrosion in the Republican ranks is NOT progressivism. Progressivism is the corruption.
The yearning for government power while preaching about limiting the government’s power is the corrosion I’m speaking of.
The corrosion is that born of stagnation. The notion that this person or that one should be given a boost up to the next rung of the political ladder because it’s “their turn.” The closed-minded idea that newcomers must be “taken under the wing” and “shown the ropes” by those who have made a career “on the inside.”
This exclusionary mind-set has been rampant inside the GOP ranks since 1986, and is a complete 180-degree turn from the open-armed rhetoric that Reagan espoused, and which led to an epic landslide on the 1984 Electoral College map.
Republicans have been posturing ever since, scrambling to secure their foothold, their little niche of power, claiming the mantle of “the party of Reagan,” all the while betraying Reagan’s vision of inclusion.
When corrosion has set in, to the point that it has in the Republican Party, there is but one course of action to take. Sandblast it out. The Tea Party Movement, if they plan their steps carefully, can help make 2010 “The Year of the Sandblaster.”
Watch for Part 3 of my series, which will delve into the tactics for doing so.
Until then, thanks for reading.
No related posts.
By clicking the tip jar to the right to the right you can help to keep this site alive.