Blame Mitch McConnell

I'm sure, like anything in history except the American Civil War, there were many factors and causes behind what happened yesterday.  But let's face it, the GOP has forever been the party of 'snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.'  

The odds were already stacked in the Democrats' favor.  You had two sub-par GOP candidates to  begin with, plus one with a fair share of ethical 'indiscretion' charges buzzing about.  You also had a Democrat juggernaut and leftists superstar in Stacy Abrams (who the Left/Press would obviously love to see in the Oval Office someday), pulling the strings.  Then you had 2020, Covid, and the idea that all rules and standards are now out the window, and out of dumb, blind luck, the changes all go to the advantage of Democrats.

Even with political acumen that would shame Metternich, the GOP would have had an uphill climb.  So it should come as no surprise that, with this high of deck stacked against it, the GOP was all but torpedoed when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in and did one of the lamest, stupidest, and most disastrous political maneuvers I've ever witnessed.

Now I've watched conservatives and Republicans (not always the same) do this sort of thing for most of my life.  Once Reagan left, conservatives lost their last political party.  No small number of Republicans would gladly see those Jesus freaks and other social traditionalist wackos head for the hills.  Since then it's been a battle for who gets the Republican compass, often seeing the worst extremes of various sides having the loudest say - and often aided by the media always trying to play up the bad press for the GOP.

So I get that those of more libertarian leanings wouldn't support a massive government bailout with no clear way of paying for itself.  I understand that it's key in conservative circles to pine for a smaller, less intrusive government.  I know conservatives fancy themselves as the ones advocating personal responsibility and accountability in life; to roll up the sleeves, grab the boot straps, and overcome whatever comes our way.

And there is nothing wrong with these things.  I support them too, at least to a point.  But here's the thing.  When fighting on philosophical or principled grounds, do the fighting up front.  Especially where the government is concerned.  If you don't want the government interfering, then take the slings and arrows of a hostile news media and stand your ground months ago and prevent the government from swooping in and wrecking the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans.  That's when you fight, at whatever cost to your reputation, your political career, or your ability to attend the best parties with the Washington elite.

You do not - repeat, not, that is not, ever not - decide that the time to take the stand is after you've been defeated, after you acquiesced, after you went ahead and pushed through legislation that stands against your values, after you've conceded one loss after another, and then demonstrate your resolve by torpedoing the one part of a bloated government overreach that could actually help individual Americans hurt by your inability to keep the government from hurting them.  Bad optics doesn't begin to describe it. 

This is when you stand up and say something along the following: 

"We labor continuously to prevent America from slipping into yet another failed socialist state of the kind we've witnessed all too often.  To that end, we did attempt to find more constructive, targeted and beneficial ways to fight the onslaught of the Coronavirus while minimizing the harm done to millions of Americans in the process.  Nonetheless, we were unable to stop some of the worst examples of government intrusion and oppression we've witnessed in our lifetime.  While we continue to stand firm on the principles of small government and the freedom of Americans to pursue their own ends, we realize our failure resulted in a massive government driven overreach that has devastated the lives of millions who have done nothing wrong other than live in our country during such a time as this.  Despite such a measure cutting against our core values as this legislation, we understand our failure should not be resolved on the backs of those who were harmed by our government's lack of control or vision.  Therefore, we will stop any unnecessary spending, exploitation or agendas in the form of massive bailouts for international or corporate interests, but will ensure that the spending we do endorse at this point goes directly to those businesses, institutions and families who have been harmed by our inability to stand firm when we should have done so."

Or something along those lines.  Not 'We'll go ahead and push through whatever spending there is, but by golly, now we will take a stand that will only devastate the lives of millions of schmucks who didn't have the good sense of becoming millionaires, since that's the type of bold sacrifice we crave!'   As long as Republicans act as if there is no limit to the lives of other dolts they're willing to sacrifice so they don't have to take the big stands that might compromise their popularity inside the Beltway, expect more of what we saw in Georgia yesterday.