THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 253, November 17, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
LAME DUCK WASHOUT DEMONSTRATES TEA PARTY RESILIENCE
By Christopher G. Adamo
IMPORTANT CONSEQUENCE OF THE 2010 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS & THE GRASSROOTS CONSERVATIVE UPRISING
AGAINST THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY & ITS LIBERAL LEFTIST LEADERS: A SIGNIFICANT SLOWING DOWN OF THE
LEFTWING LIBERAL ONSLAUGHT OF THE LAST TWO YEARS -- REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES &
SHOWING THEY HAVE CONSERVATIVE SPINES -- LIBERALS RETREATING & RUNNING FOR COVER & CONCEALMENT
FULL STORY:
The 2010 post-election “Lame Duck” session of Congress is officially underway, and represents a brief period of time
in which America could conceivably be in the greatest peril of its existence. With nothing else to lose in the immediate
aftermath of this year’s mid-term elections, Democrats had once been expected to utilize the time between November 2
and next January’s convening of the Republican dominated Congress to implement a host of legislative atrocities.
Somewhat surprisingly, relatively few new affronts to the U.S. Constitution and the U.S.A. are on the calendar. While
this is certainly no time for Conservative America to let its guard down, the attack on the nation appears, for the
moment at least, to be subsiding.
Of course, this does not mean that the nightmarish Leftwing Liberal onslaught of the last two years is over. Yet, its
key players have been severely stunned by the magnitude of the grassroots uprising against them, clearly rendering
them reluctant to continue their broadside against the American institutions and traditions against which they
mercilessly railed, beginning in 2007, and at a ferociously accelerated pace once Barack Hussein Obama was
inaugurated as U.S. President in 2009.
Clearly, a profound concept is crystallizing among the Democrats who retained their seats in the Congress. The Tea
Party movement is here to stay. Though some Liberals were able to weather the 2010 Tea Party storm, they have no
desire to incur its wrathful gales during the next twenty-four months. Perhaps more significantly, they are aware of the
real possibility of even greater Conservative momentum in the event of a strong presidential candidate on the 2012
Republican ticket, and the disconcerting likelihood of Barack Obama as their torch-carrying Democrat in that year’s
election.
Any efforts of the Democrats to continue the debasement of America that was perpetrated at break-neck speed in
2009 and 2010 will surely generate an even broader and more strenuous backlash at the polls in 2012. Emerging
shell-shocked from this year’s races, surviving congressional Democrats are increasingly desirous of taking the
necessary steps to avoid any repeats of their recent bloodbath.
Over in the U.S. Senate, it might seem that, in the wake of several Democratic upsets, which left such political
albatrosses as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-NV) and Barbara Boxer (D.-CA) in place, that body ought to be less
pliable than the U.S. House of Representatives. But this is not entirely the case. Liberal Senators are painfully aware
that this is no time to indulge in premature gloating.
Amazingly, circumstances in the Senate portend an even greater showdown in 2012. Unlike the House of
Representatives, whose members are all up for re-election every two years, only one third of the Senate faces the
voters during the same period. This constitutionally mandated schedule operates irrespective of political party, the
result often being that one party or the other faces an election cycle in which a lop-sided proportion of its members
are on the political “chopping block.”
In 2012, Democrats will have to successfully defend twenty-one of the thirty-three Senate Seats that are up for a
vote, as opposed to nineteen out of thirty-seven in 2010. In short, they must carry nearly two thirds of the Senate
races just to remain even with their current Senate majority.
It is therefore no wonder that, despite having the U.S. Presidency, a three-seat majority in the Senate, and retaining
a vestige of their majority in the Congress at least until January 3, Democrats are desperately trying to keep
big-ticket Liberal/Socialist items off of the radar screen. At present, they are only touting a few more pork-barrel
expenditures (though sadly, these are measured in the billions of dollars) and some token efforts at claiming the
moral “high ground,” (which means using the tax dollars of one citizen to provide “compassion” for another).
Even Obama’s treacherous promotion of the socalled “Dream Act,” which essentially amounts to amnesty for
illegal aliens, is being conducted behind closed doors, and as far as possible from the public spotlight. While his
subversive efforts predictably continue (What else is a Leftist to do?), he is clearly assuming a defensive posture.
In contrast, members of both houses of Congress now talk of extending the Bush tax cuts, ostensibly an
impossibility, given the party breakdown of the House and Senate, and once presumed to face a certain Obama
veto. The voters made plain whom they consider responsible for the current economic debacle, and nobody inside
the Beltway has any desire to bear culpability for a continuation or perhaps even a worsening of the situation
through a sudden increase in the tax burden that would ensue, were the 2001 tax-cuts allowed to expire as currently
scheduled.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has found his Conservative spine, and is asserting
unequivocally that his party will stand resolutely with the American people in opposition to the federally
sanctioned embezzling known as “earmarks.”
No facet of this current Liberal “retreat” would have been possible, had not the Conservative grassroots of
America coalesced and raised its thunderous voice against the Leftist insurgency on November 2. But, although
the mid-term Conservative gain is greatly encouraging, it bears with it an element of responsibility, about which
Conservatives must remain diligently aware. The fervor of the people that resonated so profoundly across the
nation on Election Day must not be allowed to dissipate, lest the political class senses an opportunity to descend
once again to the relative unaccountability of its past practices. America must remain resolute in its opposition to
any regression back to “business as usual.”
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, Special Interest Groups, & Political Corruption
American Government & the U.S. Congress:
Congressional Legislative Politics & National Public Policy
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Christopher G. Adamo is a resident of southeastern Wyoming. He has been involved in politics at the local and
state level for many years. His contact information and article archives can be found at www.chrisadamo.com
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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