Plays Nice With Others

Dennis Kucinich:  American Socialist.  Plays Nice With Others.

Say what you want about Dennis Kucinich, former Mayor and overseer of the decline of the once great city of Cleveland, Ohio.  But, so far at least, he's a man of principles.  Strange, anti-American, unconstitutional principles in my opinion, but principles nonetheless.

Not.

Dennis Kucinich is nothing more than Washington's weight-loss mascot.


The Before and After:




Today,  Mr. Kucinich did what we said he would do all along:  He "folded" to Pelosi and Obama and said he would vote for the health care bill (in whatever form it ends up being in).  For the longest time, Kucinich insisted, adamantly, that he would not favor a bill that did not include a public option.  Heck, initially he wanted a single-payer system and ONLY a single-payer system.  The so-called public option was a concession, Kucinich says.  So, obviously we already knew he was a knee-bender and a lazy daisy blowing in the wind.  And, needless to say I suppose, Kucinich isn't the only Democrat to stray from their principles of late.  Bart Stupak, the pro-life Democrat Representative, has recently stated that he is closer to agreeing on some language with Pelosi regarding the bill.

But...I have to wonder...

Maybe they knew all along that they would never see their beloved single-payer agenda attain legal status.  Maybe this, where we are now, with Pelosi and Obama actively attempting to avert the Constitution, is what they wanted all along.
Maybe Dennis Kucinich is a willing pawn, a character actor, if you will, in this Shakespearian drama that has become the health care debate.

Nah.  That's all way too conspiratorial for my tastes.  I just don't believe that these people would intentionally harm the Constitution...they do so by accident and with a sort of irreverential nonchalance toward it.   "Who cares?  The Constitution?  Who cares!?  It's 2010!"  This is the attitude wafting around the heads of state in this country.  Who cares? 

I care.  Libertarians care.  That's why we don't play the game.  We can't.  We cannot and will not sacrifice our values in order to get some bill passed we only partly agree with.  That's what politicians do, they willfully sacrifice their values for the sake of "getting along"  and "bipartisanship" and "the greater good".

Possibly the greatest example of the Libertarian mindset at work in Washington is Congressman Ron Paul.  Paul's main aim for the past few years has been to get SOMEONE to audit the Federal Reserve to see what kind of hinky business is going on there.  He had a chance to pass HIS OWN legislation last year but refused to do so.  Why?  Because the House Democrats attached his bill to the regulatory reform bill, a bill Paul would never support--no matter who visited his districts in Texas.

Ron Paul:  American hero.  Doesn't play nice with others.

That's it. That's all.