Tony Rubolotta

Party of Irrelevance
August 11, 2009

Many Republican critics of ObamaCare point to various estimates of cost to forward the argument it is going to be much more costly than its advocates are willing to admit. Followed to its logical conclusion, this argument suggests there is an "affordable” amount of ObamaCare that would be acceptable. Similar arguments were forwarded in opposition to the two stimulus packages that somehow these would be acceptable if they were trimmed down by the right "amendments”. The idea that ObamaCare and so-called stimulus spending by Congress are both unconstitutional were ignored as the debate focused on whether or not the estimates were accurate or whose estimate to believe. In other words, violating the Constitution is acceptable if the price is right. This is how the Republican Party earned the label "Democrat Lite” and has become the Party of Irrelevance.

The same elitist mentality that dominates the Democrat Party thrives in the Republican Party under the banner "fiscal conservative”. It would be more appropriate to call them tight-wad Democrats. Those Republicans still see ‘big societal problems” that demand "big government solutions” that they claim will be more affordable if they are put in charge. If Republicans were truly the party of "no”, we wouldn’t have an astronomical national debt, monumental foreign trade imbalance, skyrocketing unemployment and massive erosion of private wealth. When a firm "no” was needed, a mushy compromise was offered by the Party of Irrelevance. The Party of Irrelevance is as much responsible as the Democrats for our national financial meltdown, which is far from over and will only worsen.

If Republicans were honest about job creation they would tell the public that they can’t create jobs for some without destroying the jobs of others. Only the private sector generates wealth and wealth is what it takes to create jobs. Too many Republicans want to play the job creation shell game of destroying one real job in the private sector to create two artificial jobs in the public sector. Whether it’s a Republican or Democrat promising to create tax-payer funded jobs, the consequence is the same when the bill comes due. Government paid or subsidized employees paying taxes is a downward and vanishing spiral. Republican elitists pursuing failed Democrat policies as if they could do the same thing better have helped create the Party of Irrelevance.

There are some mistakes in life you are only allowed to make once. I didn’t know the gun was loaded as you point it at your head and pull the trigger is one of them. Electing Republicans to Congress and then giving them a Republican President seems to be in the same category. At least with the Democrats you got truth in labeling. Democrat elitists make no apologies for being fascists, communists or socialists and campaign openly about taking control of everything. Republican promises for smaller, less intrusive government became meaningless thanks to President Bush and his Republican Congress. When President Bush lost his Republican Congress, you would think he may have found his veto pen, but that didn’t happen either. It was one of those mistakes you only get to make once and why the Party of Irrelevance is becoming more irrelevant each day.

Calls to take back the Republican Party or for it to return to its roots I now believe are totally wasted on the elite of the Party. Like the elite of any Party, they know what is best for everyone and they certainly know what is best for them. By nature, an elitist is so impressed with himself that he believes more power in his hands is always good and the only reason his obviously superior ideas fail is because he didn’t have enough power. Whether an elitist calls himself a Democrat or Republican is now just a matter of branding and pragmatism. The Party of Irrelevance has only one philosophy, and that is to get and hold onto power.

I think what we are seeing now is America’s version of the War of the Roses, the House of York versus the House of Lancaster. No matter who wins, you still have a monarchy at the end. As far as I’m concerned, Mercutio had it right; "a plague o’ both your houses.”