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The Prince of Madrid
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French Fears, French Fantasies
April 30, 2013 | 262 comments
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The Prince of Monte Carlo
April 23, 2013 | 362 comments
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Winning and Staying Honest in America’s Game
April 1, 2013 | 1 comment
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The Kenya Syndrome
March 21, 2013 | 13 comments
Special Report
Another Day
Be strong and of good cheer, the republic deserves no less from its own.
On Wednesday, November 7, 2012, I woke up early, 3:30 according to the small cell phone I use instead of a watch and that Oumi says no one would bother to steal because it is not a smart phone. I said someone might steal it to get some calls in and she allowed there was that.
Most mornings I turn on the computer downstairs between grilling some vegetables and boiling some coffee which she takes to her job which starts early but on the 7th I did not even glance at the computer. I made some coffee, weaker than used to be my wont because for the first time in her life Oumi, what with long hours of work and school, has taken up coffee but she cannot take it strong. I was on my second cup and checking the seasoning on her food when she came down showered and dressed and gave me a kiss. She did not say anything except, Who won? I said I did not know, I fell asleep. When you rise before dawn you tend to go to sleep earlier than used to be your wont. She nodded, showing neither surprise nor disappointment that I did not know who would be president of the United States.
When I dozed off a few hours earlier, the television was off, and I remembered a vague image of a split screen with a news anchor wearing a suit and sitting at a table talking to a reporter in what looked like a rumpled fashionable suit who was standing somewhere with an earpiece and holding a microphone and saying it was too close to call in I forget which county of a state out there somewhere. Much attention was focused on Ohio, I now recalled, as well as Florida. Pennsylvania had been called for the incumbent not much earlier and that was when I had decided I was not going to try to stay up late and I knew I was not going to turn on the news when I woke up in the morning. It was going to be a very bad day.
Most of the conservatives had been calling it for the governor since early October when he clobbered the incumbent in the first debate, but they did not notice, or they did not say they noticed from tact or superstition, that his follow up was feeble. They said he was following a strategy of staying calm and serene and reassuring, or what they like to call presidential. A small number thought that was not enough, he ought to follow up the debate performance with attacks on the foreign policy disasters of the incumbent administration, hammering away especially at the fiasco in Libya on September 11. The governor and his aides thought that would sound shrill and even suggest to some voters called independents whose minds might not yet be made up that he was reckless and trigger happy and was planning to get us into more trouble overseas. Surely there was a way to say it was the president who was getting us into trouble overseas by a policy of systematic and even deliberate weakness of which the murder of our ambassador in Libya was the all-too-grim evidence.
This paper and the Weekly Standard and some editorial pages said this and puzzled over the dissembling not to say dishonest response from the White House. The president could not react, quickly or slowly, for the simple reason that he still did not understand the nature of the global contest we are engaged in and the characteristics of our enemies. His staff and high officials sought lame excuses to avoid saying specifically that an act of war had killed Americans and we were treating it as a tragic error. The governor should have pointed this out, to greatest effect during the second debate, when he had the opportunity and a huge audience, but he did not. With neither candidate making an issue of Benghazi, it could not have much weight in most voters’ minds, if they still needed to make them up. Possibly, as the governor’s men evidently calculated, foreign policy was of little or no consequence to the electoral arithmetic at this point, and they may well have been right. But having gambled and lost, they will be second guessed for a long time on this one. And the Republic’s security, for four more years, will be in even greater jeopardy than it is already.
We now face a grim prospect. We must dig in and resist for another full presidential term and try to limit the damage the socialists wish to wreak on the country and its institutions, not to say its spirit and character. Character is fundamentally an innate trait, almost genetic. But in a curious way, leaders, in democracies no less than in tyrannies albeit in different ways, set an example of character and it carries, and young people and children are marked by its misty influence, four years, eight years. Mr. Kristol quoted Yeats. “…For how can you compete,/Being honor bred, with one/Who were it proved he lies/Were neither shamed in his own/Nor in his neighbors’ eyes…” (Mr. Kristol references the whole poem, “To A Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing,” on the WS page.)
On the domestic side of the American dream, the Democrats already have their health program, which has been weakened, notably with a number of opt-out provisions. They will return to it with a vengeance, strengthen it and thereby weaken our economy, lessen the creative incentives in our medical research establishments, and endanger the healthiness of many if not most Americans. How can you advance health in a society by replacing doctors with administrators, laboratory researchers with tax collectors?
They have announced a vast immigration reform without giving much in the way of specific details, but it can be surmised their intention is to produce a huge new bloc of voters — amnestied illegal aliens and fresh contingents of new arrivals — that will assure future electoral victories. In this perspective, the conservative side is forced to resist massive and rapid legalization of residents who will vote against them, even though they are often people, quite possibly most often, who hold to many of the same virtues the conservatives are trying to preserve, enterprise, hard work, community and family, independence. But of course life is not abstract, and you may be hard working and striving for the opportunity of the American dream, but if you are poor and worried about your family, you do not see a contradiction between that and relying on the state for your health, your housing subsidy, your children’s education, and all the other gifts the left will offer to accompany immigration reform, all in the name, of course, of making assimilation easier (which it will not, on the contrary).
Politically, it will be difficult for conservatives not to appear defensive, reactionary, and mean-spirited. Perhaps their best bet therefore is to embrace these very traits and find a way to turn them into virtues, stating that there is no merit in compounding bad policies with worse, and they are not against immigrants but politicized immigration policy, just as they are open to every pragmatic scheme to render manageable the economics of health care, but draw the line at socialized medicine which will serve no health-giving purpose.
It will take clarity and courage and we do not know yet whether the Republicans have the men — and the women — with these traits, particularly in the demoralized state they are bound to fall into as the invigorated administration gets going after the second inauguration and the reality of at least four more years in the wilderness sets in.
True, the wilderness is not entirely bleak. The Republicans did well in the House, though they failed to convert several chances to make gains in the Senate, where there will remain a Democratic majority whose leadership would convert it from a prudent council into a rubber stamping chamber for the executive. Republicans have two alternatives at the federal level: They can play a hard line game, obstructing every single program, appointee, and initiative the administration makes that is not designed to promote policies they favor, and offer alternatives of their own at every turn; or they can play the bipartisan game and try to govern the country and direct its foreign policy in concert with the administration.
Unless the president has a road-to-Damascus moment between now and the first few months, or even weeks, of his second term, we can be certain the second course is futile, worse: a program to discredit the Republicans as a useless opposition party of opportunists and me-too men. The party should remember that the socialists have been failing for four years and have brought the country to the brink of very long-term, if not irreversible — nothing is irreversible — decay and weakness. By having no part of policies that will serve only to make matters worse, while explaining to the American people that the American promise lives, they will win the argument that failed during this year’s campaign.
This failure should not be the cause of discouragement. Of course it is unfortunate and disturbing, but if you choose to take part in public affairs, you do not have the option of being discouraged. If you think you have, that is of course your right, but you should find something else to do, quite possibly more useful, such as launching a tennis school or writing children’s stories. Whether it is a wise choice is not the point: if you are in public life, you have to function on the assumption that you will prevail, or you are simply cheating your fellow citizens.
The Republicans, particularly the conservatives among them, may reproach themselves for tactical mistakes and strategic errors. They should examine their consciences and ask whether personal ambition did not too often get in the way of party unity and tactical soundness. They should reform their primary system and find a way to avoid the sort of demagogy that, in fact, opened the door to the lowest kind of class-war demagogy by the Democrats, which evidently they used successfully.
The democratic cookie crumbles in its own odd way, and even with the country sociologically somewhere to the right of center, even with capital L liberalism dead in the water, as Mr. Tyrrell has written and as liberals themselves prove every time they do or say something, the political game throws up results that by definition have to disappoint as often as they reward.
But I would write all this later. Now work and life and striving beckoned, and I would think about a few sets of tennis indoors and some work on my ‘91 Ford truck.
It is your country, Oumi said, packing up my gourmet grilled vegetables and pouring some coffee into a small thermos. It is yours too, I replied. Hard working little economic women like you will keep it great and free. Thank you for rising with me, she said. Would I miss a chance to be awake with you? She kissed me by way of reply and spoke a true American verse, There is always another day.
About the Author
Roger Kaplan, a Washington-based writer, covers the Middle East and Africa (and tennis) for The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (39) | Leave a comment
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Joellen| 11.9.12 @ 6:50AM
As a Roman Catholic, I am still grieving that 50% of "alleged catholics" voted for Obama. 50% voted for a man who is determined to bring down the Catholic Church and eventuually all Christian/Judeo institutions. 50% voted for a man who embraces everything that JESUS CHRIST opposes, the murdering of the unborn, and even born (infanticide); the redifining the sacrament of marraige and the breakup of the family unit; coverting thy neighbors goods (distribution of wealth - socialism); etc. etc.
Many of my friends have been weeping, they are so despondent. But all agree to the same creed - it is in GOD's hands. The truth is, there wont be a new day in America till it returns to GOD. We have abandon HIM - so why should HE bless us - fools if we really believe HIM to do so in this America. Perp, vtm (or whatever his name is) and all the other progessives who spew their evil agenda on AS can laugh this off - but one day, their eyes will be opened and they will not be so cocky and arrogant. No, they will, like those of us now realize, be brought to their knees to the real GOD. For America has been brought to her knees, and if we dont find our way back to HIS TRUTH we will stay there. I trust my AS friends have started the journey already, but we need to bring more on the same path. That is our true plight to save America - bring her back to GOD. When GOD is our focal point America will be restored and that will be the new day in America.
JimH| 11.9.12 @ 7:58AM
Franklin said ‘A Republic, if you can keep it’. Well it looks as if we may not be able to. We have been heading down this road as we have become more democratic. People wrongly equate democracy with liberty and many now choose equality over freedom.
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 10:21AM
"It is your country, Oumi said. . . . "
Real Americans, the great majority, have voted for everything, everyone, I despise.
TWICE.
Given rampant stupidity, insouciance, birthrates of certain demographic cohorts, and universal suffrage, today's America is America forever.
From this day forward, I am not an American. Not by choice, but by virtue of the total disconnect between my conscience, erstwhile patriotic beliefs and culture. and the reality of what America has become.
Not many folks know that before every civic meeting in Texas that doesn't include Democrats, the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag is recited, followed immediately by facing to the right toward the Texas flag and reciting
"Honor the Texas Flag,
I pledge allegiance to thee,
One State under God,
One, and indivisible."
I am a Texan, and earnestly hope to live long enough to see the rebirth of The Republic of Texas.
RCV| 11.9.12 @ 11:52AM
Well, if you have been reciting the Pledge of Allegience at every civic meeting, you've apparently not noticed the word "indivisible". It means what the dictionary says it means. And that principle was established by the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans, including ancestors of mine.
Your tin hat "Republic of Texas" will have to be established elsewhere. You were never an American to begin with.
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 1:58PM
Oh, actually I was, until about four years ago, when yellowbellied socialists, chickenshit lawyers, anthropoids and various other semi-evolved bipeds of non-European stock succeeded in raping the base of what used to be "America." I kind of got watered down when a Demovcrat Congress threw awayt 58,000 American lives in 1975, pulling the rug out from under the Republic of South Viet Nam, after we had won the war.
"Indivisible" Definition. Not according to me, anymore.
US Constitution, semantics therein. Definition. Not according to Democrats.
BTW, hotshot, what unit did you command in combat ?
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 6:02PM
@RCV
Could you type a little louder, please ? Couldn't hear the answer to my question... did the fatmouthed descendant of principle-establishing ancestors of yore ever follow his vaunted forbears onto the battlefield ?
You know, to sort of earn the title of "American."
RCV| 11.9.12 @ 6:45PM
I honor you for your service, Alej -- assuming you did. But while you don't have to earn the title of American -- it's our birthright thanks to our ancestors -- you can forfeit the title through disloyalty and sedition. And you've done so. Take a hike, little rebel.
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 7:39PM
"Honor" from a god damned Democrat is an insult.
Fifth Marines, Viet Nam
Just some of the guys shit like you betrayed.
RCV| 11.9.12 @ 8:46PM
And now you're ready to betray all of them, and your country.
C. Vernon Crisler | 11.9.12 @ 2:38PM
Remember the counsel of Jefferson that at some point the reign of witches will be over and the American prople will come to their senses.
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 3:36PM
Jefferson was in Salem ? Source for that quote, please.
He actually did say,
"A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."
Thomas Jefferson
...not one syllabe of which bears any relation to the actions of the present regime.
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quo.....erson.html
C. Vernon Crisler | 11.9.12 @ 7:38PM
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/pres.....efl122.php
Petronius| 11.9.12 @ 10:42AM
We are now pawns for the despotic intellectual snots who believe they alone are fit to rule. But we never have been Free, as they have run the show since Wilson.
The one thing that scares politicians is the prospect of more people having money than not, or they'd really be public servants instead of Our Masters. Both parties conspired to make economic advancement impossible average people. JFK wanted real economic independence for everyone. That's why he was assassinated. Ronald Reagan was despised by the establishment for the same reason.
The fallout from this election is that traditional American Culture has become a relic. The RINO's got their revenge against the Tea Party. And Conservatism is dead in the water as a political force. It will return only when the economy has been utterly destroyed by the Left and it's army of parasitic clients, and there is no other way out. Those few of Us who desire True Freedom will be totally ostracized, vilified, dispossessed, and probably die destitute rather than knuckle under to this dictatorial state. The Trash have won, and only those who have enough wealth to insulate themselves from their institutional authority will live decently until the lowlife turn on them too. They will face a horrid reckoning when there will be no honorable Men to save their corrupt arses from the mob. I bet Carl Rove is satisfied.
Gary B| 11.10.12 @ 4:07AM
Hear, hear!
GreyLion+| 11.9.12 @ 11:39AM
Kaplan,
I guess it hasn't sunk in yet for you. OUR country was destroyed Tuesday night. Whatever is left over it is not America. The question in my mind is not WHAT to fight but WHETHER to fight because I don't think it will be worth it. In no small way I want to see those who voted to destroy my country suffer immensely for doing so.....let them have the desires of their heart and turn deaf ears and blind eyes upon them.
PolishKnight| 11.9.12 @ 1:02PM
First off, about the mobile phone. To protect yourself, call your carrier and disable international dialing. (They overcharge for this service anyway) and any other services you don't use. If someone gets it, they can call other "local" phones but you'll just lose minutes (which you can probably recover if you report it lost anyway.)
Anyways, the game HAS changed. Obama will get amnesty for the illegals and it's unlikely Romney would have stopped it anyway. So let's accept that in 4 years, there will be that much more of a percentage of ready-made democrat voters.
Unless you change the paradigm which is that non-whites and women vote Democrat because they're promised race and gender benefits at white male expense, then expect to lose all presidential elections from here on. Get used to it. But if the Republican can care about civil rights for white males as much as abortion, gay marriage, and tax rates for the wealthy, they have a chance. White males will defect from the Democrats (and there are still a lot of us, guys!) and minorities without the benefits will reconsider the overall failed marxist policies of the left.
That's the ONLY other option other than losing in 2016. Enjoy!
djn1313| 11.9.12 @ 12:07PM
What republic, it is history. obama and his legion of dummies have transformed this nation forever. The conservative states need to begin planning a new republic free of the socialist rope around their necks.
Gary B| 11.10.12 @ 4:14AM
Yup, the answer is with the states. Which among them will muster the courage to defy the transgender mutants in DC? The Texas AG has a pretty good record of suing the federal government. Perhaps more will do likewise. Nullification is one of the solutions. If several states united against DC on some important issue, DC would fold. Regarding Texas... I'm glad I now live here.
Robert Nowall | 11.9.12 @ 12:38PM
Be of good cheer. Presidents traditionally get in some kind of scandal or problem in their second administrations, and Obama has planted many seeds that might be that scandal / problem. We have something to look forward to.
PolishKnight| 11.9.12 @ 1:10PM
Don't count on it. I love this Onion news story:
http://tinyurl.com/bpu6dbd
"Media Having Trouble Finding Right Angle On Obama's Double-Homicide
WASHINGTON—More than a week after President Barack Obama's cold-blooded killing of a local couple, members of the American news media admitted Tuesday that they were still trying to find the best angle for covering the gruesome crime."
The left have been gleefully counting their days up to this point: They had a plan to flood the country with nonwhites and throw white males, increasingly a minority in their party and the backbone of the republicans, to the wolves. They control most of the media and continue to define a narrative to rewrite history (Valery Plame was "outed" by Scooter Libby and Libby went to jail for it, for example). They control the educational system and not only program young people to vote for Obama the moment they turn 18, they even get a lot of money to then pump into campaign ads via the public teachers' unions. They even have the police unions on board so that cop will think twice before bashing in a hippy protestor!
The problem is the conservatives are literally too conservative and reactionary. They still think this is 1980. Or even 1950. They need to think in terms of protecting their electorate (guys like me) and winning elections based upon WORKABLE policies. That's it. Done. Figure it out. You don't have a lot of time...
Dave Williams| 11.9.12 @ 1:00PM
Caesar has crossed the Rubicon, and in four years, this country will be unrecognizable...anybody believe there really will BE an election in 2016? Why should our Masters relinquish power, especially when (in their eyes) they've done such a GREAT job of running things? Bad, bad, BAD things are coming, and the worst of them is that the libtards will NEVER acknowledge that their misguided policies will have turned this once-great country into hell. Sad.
Santiago| 11.9.12 @ 1:29PM
Considering there are millions of people in the US that are still sane, and there are quite a few countries with more economic freedom that this new "America," millions of conservative Americans could have a big impact on another nation (and thus the entire world and the history to be written) by moving to a different country (it's not hard to find a small one where a wave of such immigration would set it on the path to becoming much like the old America was). I currently live in Chile, and while I'm depressed thinking about what my family back in the US faces, I'm grateful for the opportunities that I've found here. If I end up staying here forever (not really sure at this point), it would be just like what my ancestors once did generations ago in moving to North America. The process comes full circle.
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 2:02PM
Amigo, what is the national policy on privately-owned firearms in Chile ?
That's all that is keeping the scum in Washington (and their adherents ) out of my yard right now.
RCV| 11.9.12 @ 6:47PM
Head to Chile, Alej, but be forwarned: there are a lot of "non-Europeans" there. I know they make you uncomfortable.
Alej| 11.9.12 @ 7:47PM
I was addressing a decent human being out of curiosity. Chile is an interesting country that implemented th G W Bush suggestion of privatizing Social Security, and the concept has worked amazingly well for Chileans.
I adopted a Vietnamese gamily in 1975 after the cruel Democrat betrayal, and got them on their feet until they were able through hard work, which included learning English at classes my wife took them to three times a week, to buy a house, the amazing dream of their lifetimes. I have a godson named Ma Alexander Xuan.
Non-Europeans don't really bother me, lawyer asshole, unless they invade en masse and conquer my country, from without or within.
AhiaBoy| 11.10.12 @ 8:38AM
It wasn't the "GW Bush policy" that Chile implemented, Alej. When Pinochet took Chile back from the Socialist/Communist Allende he brought in the "Chicago Boys" who were schooled in Milton Friedman free market economic theory, to fix the economy. Retirement account privatization was one of the reforms they created. That's probably where GWB got the idea.
RCV| 11.10.12 @ 3:56PM
Alej would be happier with a Pinochet. Unfortunately for him, the Chileans got tired of the iron boot rather quickly.
Santiago| 11.12.12 @ 10:22AM
What transpired here had little to do with Chileans getting "tired of" Pinochet, after the initial protests (for example a few weeks after the coup in '73 at the funeral of Pablo Neruda), even though I'm sure many were in fact very tired of the military regime, there was little threat to the control of the "iron boot" you mention. Fifteen years later, in 1988, Chileans had a choice between saying "yea" or "nay" to another extended "term" of Pinochet, and they voted "No" by roughly 55%-45%, so that was in practical terms the only choice the people ever had. Anyway that's the true Chilean miracle, not one of economics (though the local economy is doing quite well at the moment), but the fact that Pinochet willingly gave up his power and allowed a democractic government to return, and what had been his opposition came to power (without reversing most of his policies) to boot!
Alej| 11.10.12 @ 6:54PM
Thank you for the info... but I did say "suggestion." I dare say many have suggested /"invented" it in many countries over the years.
Alej| 11.10.12 @ 6:57PM
... in reply to AhiaBoy.
Not the troll who is in love with me and following me around.
Santiago| 11.12.12 @ 10:25AM
Anyway my point was to humbly suggest that people imagine the impact of an American conservative diaspora, since Chile is not an Anglo country I don't expect to see millions of Americans coming here, but imagine millions of conservative Americans establishing themselves in Canada or Australia or Singapore for example, it would have the potential to permanently alter the course of that/those respective nation(s), and likely for the better.
Santiago| 11.12.12 @ 10:34AM
Chile's laws are more strict that the US (guns are supposed to be registered, a big no-no for many Americans), but on a world scale are relatively permissive. There are a number of permits that allow a person to have and use a firearm, which are a home defense permit, a hunter's permit, a sporting permit, and a collecter's permit. Each one has different restrictions, for example a home defense permit allows you to own up to 2 and purchase up to 100 rounds for each per year (the ammo limit for other permits is much higher). If you want to practice shooting your gun, well then you probably have to get a sporting permit. The process is a bit heavy on paper work (like many things in Chile) but not too prohibitive or expensive for someone determined to acquire a firearm (interestingly enough I'm not aware of restrictions on the type of gun, just limits on how much ammunition you can buy annually). Unfortunately concealed carry is a pretty alien concept here and I don't foresee that becoming legal anytime soon.
Gary B| 11.10.12 @ 4:28AM
"... if you are in public life, you have to function on the assumption that you will prevail, or you are simply cheating your fellow citizens."
I don't think the GOP establishment has acknowledged this approach. To all appearances, the GOP has been operating a massive false flag operation for a very long time. How else can you explain the "advice" its consultants have been providing to Republican candidates? The only way to win is to take a gun to a gun fight, yet they refuse to do that. Why?
There has never been an easier creep to campaign against than Obama, yet the Republican lost. You could fill the Grand Canyon with stuff he didn't say. The establishment chose him. Why? He lost to McCain, for God's sake. The fix has been in for a long time.
The GOP is worthless. Conservatives will have to find another vehicle; we are not welcome in the Republican Party.
Petronius| 11.10.12 @ 1:10PM
Gary
Most of the infantile populace in our midst Adore this Creep and live vicariously on his revenge against Us for demanding they become competent adults and support themselves.
Gary B| 11.10.12 @ 8:11PM
The chicken seems to be quickly coming home to roost, as many of them are losing their jobs as a result of Obamacare. Perhaps they will dragged kicking and screaming into the world of the reality about other people's money. Someone is going to have the last laugh and I don't think it'll be them.
Politics Debunked | 11.10.12 @ 3:07PM
A major reason Obama won: People didn't realize how much he lied. Many liberal newspapers reported his claim he will "pay down our debt".. and never printed anything questioning it. He constantly repeated the lie, contradicted by his own budget document. The anti-Obama media likely didn't bother pointing out his lie because they thought it was obvious.. but it wasn't to many people it appears.
Obama claimed at the Democratic National Convention on Sept. 6th, 2012: "I'll use the money we're no longer spending on war to pay down our debt".
Yet the White House site contains his 2013 budget proposal with a table showing his planned national debt at the end of each year through 2022. It adds at least $900 billion to the debt every year, $9.6 trillion over a decade.
If a CEO lied about his company's finances to get people to buy stock, the public would cry "fraud! send him to jail!". Should we trust someone to run our government that we wouldn't trust to run a company? This isn't a one time gaffe, he has repeated it from the State of the Union in January, through dozens of speeches into October and a campaign commercial.
For details about this, or to see the issue described in an amusing cartoon&video; mashup of Obama's own words, see the new site: http://PoliticsDebunked.com
Alej| 11.11.12 @ 8:54AM
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/peacefully-grant-state-louisiana-withdraw-united-states-america-and-create-its-own-new-government/1wrvtngl
Rhoetus| 11.11.12 @ 7:01PM
Rules for Conservatives @
http://www.saveamericanow.us.com
Bill8472| 11.12.12 @ 10:36AM
During the presidential campaign, the fact that the Republicans in Congress had had nothing to do with the conduct and policies of the Obama administration was used in an effort to blacken it. To suggest that the Republicans in Congress should not make an effort to help run the nation is being harmful.
I don't know what will help the Republicans and other conservatives re-assume power, but opting out of the process is not a way, I am sure, for them to insure their recapture of the controls of government.