If there was any question about the relevance of the Republican Party, this week's budget deal removes all doubt. The Republican Party might as well close up shop and merge with the Democrats. Not as a merger of equals, but more of a capitulation, a surrender, a sellout. There is no need for two parties in Washington DC as only one party is relevant in terms of advancing an agenda. The irony is that the agenda driving party is in the minority and despite losing badly in two midterm elections, the Democrats are still running Congress.
Another 2000-plus page bill passed by Congress with little transparency or discussion. You mean ObamaCare? No Paul Ryan's $1.1 trillion spending bill, his first major legislative "achievement" as House Speaker.
The deal suspends the debt limit until 2017, well after the presidential election, effectively taking unsustainable debt off the table as a campaign issue. Obama doubled the national debt? So what? Republicans are helping him. Don't worry though, the spending cuts will take place in 2025, when most of the current Congress voting for this spending spree will either be retired or working as K Street lobbyists.
Remember the 2010 GOP "Pledge to America"? Paul Ryan hopes you don't. Especially some of these key pieces.
An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.
An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long- standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.
What have Republican voters gotten for believing the 2010 "Pledge"? After voting in solid majorities in both the House and Senate, it's business as usual, as if Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were still in charge. Perhaps they are.
What has this latest budget deal done to thwart the Obama agenda? Very little. The omnibus bill fully funds Obama's executive amnesty program. Sanctuary cities are funded -- so much for Kate Steinle's tragic death bringing attention to sanctuary cities like San Francisco. Refugee resettlement programs are funded, allowing thousands of "refugees" into the country. With access to federal benefits. Ask Europe how that's working out.
Worried about refugees from countries sympathetic to Islamic jihad? No problem. The student and fiancée visa programs are funded, along with green card and other refugee programs. Did the San Bernardino shootings not happen? Any lessons learned?
Illegal aliens coming across the southern border? Ryan's bill funds their resettlement. Must be comforting to families terrorized by illegals. There is even funding for the release of criminal aliens. Let's not leave out the bill quadrupling H-2B visas for unskilled guest workers. Unemployed Americans must be thrilled about more competition for entry level jobs. Illegals even have their tax credits funded by Ryan's bill.
Any funds allocated to complete the southern border fence promised in 2006? No. Somehow Congress ran out of money for that. But not for a tall security fencearound Paul Ryan's own home. If fences don't work, why does he and his family need one?
And there is more. Planned Parenthood is fully funded, despite their baby butchery. No funding cuts to ObamaCare either, kicking down the road some of the onerous ObamaCare taxes. Even Obama's global warming climate change bill receives funding without any restriction.
Ryan can't fund the fence on our southern border, but he can sure fund everything else.
Instead of opposition to the Obama/Democrat agenda, Republicans have not only surrendered, but are also advancing this agenda. Do they not understand checks and balances? Separation of powers? Apparently not. The Republican leadership in Congress is acting as if they were an Obama administration cabinet department.
Impeachment is off the table. So is Republican's "power of the purse" because the leadership has ruled out any government shutdown. Obama can do what he wants and spend money freely on his pet programs because the necessary checks on the executive branch have been willingly abandoned by the Republican leadership.
Where is the opposition to the agenda of the left? Isn't that what Republicans promised if given control of the House and Senate? Where are the leaders? Where are the statesmen?
Republican establishment types wonder why Donald Trump is leading in the polls. Trump is filling the leadership vacuum left by Ryan, Boehner, and McConnell. "We the people" see the GOP morphing into the DNC, despite promises to the contrary over the past four years. The smart set at Fox News can't understand why "we the people" aren't flocking to Jeb or Marco, and instead supporting racist/fascist Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.
These two may be the last and only hope of maintaining a two-party system. If the establishment manages to destroy Trump and Cruz, then it's lights out for the Republican party. The base will stay home and the Founding Fathers will roll over in their graves. As for any future support for the GOP, my answer be a Mrs. Clinton refrain, "What difference does it make?" The Republican Party will be six feet under and we will have one-party rule in Washington, DC.
Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based retina surgeon and writer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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