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Desperate Times
I understand the need to vent. Democrats have snatched federal governance away (if legitimate and there is every reason to wonder about that) by the narrowest of margins, or at least they have gained the Presidency and thin majorities in Congress. With this weakest of mandates, they now scheme to solidify their position, strengthen and protect it. Gone are the feints, the denials.
The strategy is obvious: Pack the court, eliminate the filibuster, take over all elections and severely weaken election accountability (even introduce means to undetectable election fraud), add two new states (reliably Democrat) and finally, open the borders playing the beneficent patron with other people’s money in return for reliable future support. Illegal immigrants, disguised as refugees seeking asylum, will flood in. Many will be pregnant females carrying future birthright Democrats and many will be children, future dreamers. Of course, with control over voter registration and voting mechanisms sufficiently eroded, many of these illegal newcomers will cast ballots.
Who will stop them, I ask? Who will encourage them? There is a reason why so many in California are dismissed for jury duty because they are non-citizens. The jury pool? Voter rolls.
But there is more: Democrats seek to federalize local policing, eliminating local accountability in favor of federal political control. 
“Infrastructure” bills have become gigantic rent-seeking operations, slush funds even, to be used for influence and payback wherever needed. How many times can these spending sprees be justified as “temporary?” How much easier is it to pass a massive spending bill loaded with earmarks and slush? Patronage and corruption have never been easier.
Funds are unlimited when your currency floats on a cushion of quantitatively eased, well, air.
Why all the fuss about social justice, global climate change, BLM? That calculus is quite a bit different, but no less important to the strategy. As a practical matter, Democrats have constituencies to keep in check. First and foremost, there are people of color. Without the overwhelming support of this group, the Democrats lose. The SJW/BLM tantrum (alternatively the demonization of all things white and conservative, so-called “white privilege”) maintains a necessary “us” vs. “them” mentality that drowns out any thoughts of an alliance with conservatism. Likewise, Democrats use the support of all things “green” to keep the 18-30-year-old demographic in check, especially those who are college-educated and firmly in their back pockets. Green support, vague support for college loan forgiveness and legal marijuana are all designed to maintain the so-called “youth” vote.
But these are all things that you, my dear Ricochetti, know well and lament daily here on these pages. The real wisdom lies not in knowing these things, but in seeing them as they really are: desperate overreach. Court-packing will not likely prevail, nor the elimination of the filibuster. Democrat Senators Sinema and Manchin have said that they oppose both measures; others may join them. The voting bill, HR1 is probably similarly DOA, and even if it is passed by the narrowest of margins, it will certainly face immediate and strong constitutional challenge. Statehood for DC brings up serious constitutional issues. Puerto Rico will face strong opposition. And open borders, as everyone knows, are incompatible with sovereignty and our beneficent welfare system. Americans do not like being taken advantage of and if they have not already, will soon show opposition to unchecked entry.
In addition, the BLM tantrum is wearing out our national patience. And as time passes and facts emerge, the Global Warming warning seems more and more like a cry of wolf, unhinged and unjustified. Americans should not have to bear all the burdens for a crisis that has failed to materialize and that other nations are allowed to ignore. Fairness is not defined as a reflexive and sole US burden (read:NATO.)
So do not despair. I expect that the Democrats and their media allies will become more shrill and strident each and every day as their strategies fail. Ugly desperation will be the most likely result. But remember: the desperate never win in the end.
Published in General
If and only if there is an even stronger and focused counteroffensive. Shill and strident is the natural tone of social media and the 24/7/365 spin cycle, so this is not necessarily a sign of impending failure.
Chaos is the strategy, not the end goal. Debt is a form of chaos.
It seems that not only must we fear being pursued and punished if we attend a rally for our former President, we must fear being pursued if someone who looks like us attends such a rally. We will wake up with guns pointed at us while rogue FBI agents grill us, handcuff us, then leave with our phones and whatever else they want.
It also seems that Pelosi’s computer is still at large. Must have been a Microsoft machine. Apple’s “Find My” app would have led them to it ages ago. A smart thief would have downloaded contents and pitched the computer a long time ago, I would think.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/alaska-couple-says-fbi-raided-their-home-with-guns-drawn-interrogated-them-in-search-for-pelosis-laptop
Their ultimate goal is to eliminate elections . . .
Overreach does seem to be our great hope. It was under Obama, who jammed through the ACA and effectively ended his legislative opportunities. Clinton’s attempt to do something similar early in his administration probably helped steer him toward a middle path. The left shows little sign of self-awareness now.
It’s always difficult when you have to count on your adversary’s mistakes, rather than your own actions. There is the fear that they might see the danger and moderate their tone. Fortunately, it seems unlikely in this case.
We are headed for France 1789. I am not looking forward too it.
Agree with most of this, but I’m not sure opposition to Puerto Rican statehood is the best call. Signs are that the GOP can be competitive there. Also it’s becoming a tax haven for the entrepreneurial class.
We seem to be in, or entering, a post-Constitutional era. I was intending to write post-Judicial era, but either one is good. I, and it seems most Republicans, for decades have always strung our expectations, hopes and goals on the Supreme Court as the Supreme arbiter of US law and granter of rights; sort of like a 9-headed demi-god that needs to be appeased, and then perhaps you will have your requests fulfilled, if they will turn their attention to you and grant you an audience.
Liberals have been good at this sacrifice, always promoting leftist justices. Republicans have been less competent, or less willing, and have had half their justices turn out to be fickle conservatives, at best.
And with the latest justice, Barrett, it’s still early but it appears that her judgement, too, is not what was hoped. And a question occurs to me: Is it possible that one can have a purely intellectual alignment with one judicial approach in Constitutional matters, and yet when actually tasked with settling questions of law he or she shows that his personal convictions are different than what he has espoused and the way he has judged for his entire career to that point?
Are they merely sycophants posing prior to promotion to the Supreme bench? Or are they pushed and persuaded to act outside their conscientious intellectual beliefs?
Either way, it appears that Law itself is now nothing more than a political act, which appeases the prevailing political powers.
We have been there for a while. It wasn’t just the Democrats that did it. Republicans are just as guilty. The administrative state is a big part of it. The voters voted us there. The courts put their stamp of approval on it.
The voters voted second hand: they voted poorly for years, and people they voted for did it.. But in this most recent election, the voters got it right, but were outvoted by the Deep State, and the courts upheld that instead. The Deep State has been around since before Eisenhower.
Good, Doug. I like your tone, one of the country not being completely hosed, at this point.
With representative work such as yours, I’m happy to be part of the new Ricochetti.
It is always like this. How’d you like to be a Republican during the pre-War FDR days? Or with Wilson in the WH? Jimmie C was bad enough. We must pushback and bring conservatism to bear. It works, really well. Trump proved this, even if he was hard to like (even to me, but I came around.)
If you break a little child’s crayons in half, does he now have twice as many?
Opposition to Puerto Rican statehood is the ONLY call. Puerto Rican statehood is a wholly political, anti-American, leftist fantasy. It would add 6 democrat electoral votes to our presidential elections, two democrat senators and 4 democrat representatives to the Congress. This, for a territory that contributes zero to our national well-being, exports nothing of value that has not been taken from a state with higher wages, speaks a different language and has a different culture. Ever changed planes in San Juan?
Puerto Rican independence is a much better idea than statehood for all concerned. If obliged to make its way in the community of nations, Puerto Rico’s latitude, beaches and climate could result in a wealthy tropical paradise within a generation.
Second that, Doc.
Yes and Yes and Yes
Just as many Puerto Rican people want independence, while others like the current arrangement, there is a large group who are proudly American, serve their country, and would not want to lose being a part of America.
I like your optimism. And it may be reasonable.
Unless Democrats really can control elections.
The last election looked really, really suspicious. In many different ways. Even more suspicious is the refusal of oversight after the fact – if they were counting everything honestly, they would have encouraged everybody and their brother to come in and recount themselves, as much as they wanted. But that’s not how they handled it.
Still, though, perhaps the last election looked odd, but was actually honestly done. Ok, if that’s the case, you’re right. There is hope.
But if Democrats can control the outcomes of national elections, that means that we can no longer control government through democratic means.
There is only one other way to control government. And nobody wants that.
If they had to fend for themselves, I believe their elections would usher in new blood that would turn Puerto Rico into another tropical paradise. I’ve been there, and it has a lot going for it . . .
If only more Americans like you Doug could see the seriously ugly handwriting on the wall that the Democrats are ruthlessly taking this country down the road of a Communist Dictatorship- Police State. Great Post.
There is still hope. Getting the word out and convincing conservatives- true conservatives – of the peril is key. The voter fraud recount continues on in Maricopa County. A voter fraud investigation may proceed in Fulton County, Georgia. An investigation showing sufficient fraud in either election could be a tipping point in fighting the demonization of Trump voters because it would seriously undermine the idea that Biden was fairly elected, opening all sorts of avenues of political attack against the destruction of the Republic.
Indeed there are. I know a few of them, including the director of a methadone clinic who is an Army veteran and another who is a world-class musician. That does not change the fact that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico contributes zero to our national well-being, exports nothing of value that has not been taken from a state with higher wages, speaks a different language and has a different culture. This is a 51st state which we do not need.
Language used to be a unifier of our culture. It still should be.