Tha gavel has passed!

Thursday – January 6, 2010

The Gavel has passed! It marks the return of a two party government:
The new Speaker said, “Congress must tackle tough issues such as cutting spending and reducing the deficit.”

Boehner: It's the 'people's House'

The new Speaker said, "We gather here today at a time of great challenges." Boehner also said, "Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions."

The gavel passed and the Constitution provided this passage with a peaceful transference of power. At the end of the day, all we have is the Constitution and I believe the new members of both Houses will in the long run look to that document for guidance. I believe that the new Speaker has a down to earth personality and he will call it the way he sees it.
He gets it, the others don’t!

By itself, this is a victory. The new Congress has begun. The new Congress will enact the majority of what they have been sent to do. It is the Senate where things will fall short. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, has changed the filibuster rule. The Senate will now vote on new laws and legislation ending the filibuster process with 51 votes. The old rule called for 61 votes. Reid has changed the rule to benefit the Democrats slim majority in the Senate. The last time this rule was changed to a simple majority of 61 was by Walter Mondale during the days of Watergate in 1975.

This will enable the Democrats to vote on legislation and pass what they want and defeat the progress that the Republicans make in the House. Elections still do have consequences. The other side of the change of this rule will enable the Senate, still controlled by Democrats, to vote on appointments that the President makes. No one is talking about this aspect and it is something we must pay attention to. The President still can appoint cabinet members Justices of the Supreme Court and ambassadors with an assurance of passage by the democratically controlled Senate.

I said yesterday that this new Congress was a great start. It is estimated that the defeat of the Democrats in Congress has caused 2,000 democratic staffers to lose their jobs. The employment of Liberal staffers is one part of the problem that does not exist any longer. Elections do have consequences.

Though new staffers will be hired it now becomes a mix of conservative minded people who come in with newly elected Congressional members. Elections do have consequences.
The new Congress will pay attention to the Constitution, because they are being instructed too. It is not only the instruction it is the fundamental make up of the new members who want too. Elections do have consequences.

I can remember an interview that Bill O’Reilly had with Congressman Barney Frank, a Democrat from Boston. Frank said, “The laws we pass have nothing to do with the Constitution.” This went unchallenged by Bill. I bring this up because Frank was re-elected by a constituency that might not know about this statement or even care about this statement. This is the issue at hand. For the Republicans, the Tea Party Candidates and any conservative this is the central issue going forward in any campaign be it at the local, State and National level.

The Constitution guarantees the passage of power every two years. It provides a guideline and it provides direction to law makers and the citizen who votes for the law makers. The spectacle that amazes me is what the founders gave us. It was a guarantee of the transference of power and it is up to us to honor the guarantee when we see fit.

Washington said, “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.” I do believe that we now have some legislators that believe this. I also believe that there are those who still don’t and these are the ones that will block the efforts of the new Speaker and the new members of the House and the Senate. When Harry Reid announced that the rules were changing for the filibuster he essentially said that he is nullifying the election results of last November. With the change in the rule, Reid essentially has said he does not want to listen to the American people.

The Senate can make their rules. The Constitution also says we can fire those who ignore the will of the people. This is what the Constitution guarantees every two years. By November of 2012, we must take control of the Senate!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I am making 2011 the year of the Constitution. My efforts to support the premise of constitutional law will be something that each member of the House the Senate and the White House must pay attention to. This is the only thing we have left -our politicians can no longer dismiss it! For the first time in our history the Constitution will be read on the floor of Congress. This is a great day in America.