TexasCHLforum.com

Keep in mind how and to what extent power is diffused in our system. It was done that way on purpose, to minimize, as much as possible, the risk of tyranny.

The people eventually get what they want, but it might not always be what you want, and it might not be "for their own good."

Electing a President who stands for everything you want doesn't get you very far, because the President has little power. As Truman pointed out,

"All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway."

You should remember that El Diablo appointed scores of exceedingly well qualified men and women to the Federal courts, most of whom were left dangling, and a few of whom were confirmed because the Senate, almost equally divided, was neutered by a gang of liberal Senators, Kennedy, Schumer, Leahy, Durbin and others who absolutely would not permit any vote on any nominee who had ever expressed the slightest sympathy for any hint of thinking that maybe it might be useful to consider rethinking Roe v. Wade. Those who were confirmed were good men and women but too few made it through confirmation.

That old political scientist Lyndon Johnson knew that "when you have the votes, they do things your way. When they have the votes, you do things their way." Nothing much happens in the Senate until you can get 60 votes. If the President approves of what those 60 are doing, fine. If not, you need 67.

Faced with these realities, conservatives wring their hands and form up into a circular firing squad. Socialists seldom kill off their own like conservatives do. As a result, they win a lot of elections and hold office, while the purists on the other side fret that their candidates aren't good enough and stay home, free of the burdens of holding office which gives them more time to complain.

I've come to admire Ted Cruz. When something stinks, he says "Phew." That's great, but in doing so, he has almost certainly offended so many of his colleagues, many of whom stink, that he will have a hard time getting things done. "When you have the votes, they do things your way."

Furthermore, things seldom change overnight, from dark to light. It takes awhile. Voters have been turning to Republicans in local and state offices in ever increasing numbers in recent years. I remember when the county Republicans here could meet in one man's living room and none held elective office. A small man showed up in my dad's business one day and said he would like some help meeting the locals. He and my dad had gone to college together. That man was John Tower and he took advantage of LBJs vanity, and Democrat chutzpah, to take a Senate seat, the first GOP Senator from the old south in nearly 100 years. It took a couple of decades, but now almost every seat is in GOP hands.

The doper dirtball hippies of the '60's have been running wild for some time, some have been in jail and some are headed there. Our day will come, if we keep working on it, not stay home in disgust.