Off to a very bad start

We had so wanted to believe the opinion pieces, written by people we considered to be of sober judgement, that Paul Ryan would be just fine as House speaker.

We kept reminding ourselves that he was the only one crafting and peddling a serious reversal of course in the budgeting approach of Congress.

But something kept nagging at us. We couldn't shake the creepy feeling that he had a bad, bad case of Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome.

And that creepy feeling has been justified.

The omnibus appropriations bill is Boehner redux.

It damages the cause of conservative government by perpetuating the very programs and priorities the ending of which we have been screaming and roaring for.

With a deadline looming, congressional leaders unveiled "sweeping" tax and spending legislation late last night. The result makes one wonder whether congressional Republicans negotiate directly with President Obama on these deals, or whether they just send corporate lobbyists‎ to do so, thereby cutting out the middle man.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "The agreement…is expected to suspend for two years a tax on medical devices and delay for two years the scheduled 2018 start of the so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost employer health plans." Each of these "fixes" to Obamacare will make deep-pocketed groups that much less interested in full repeal in 2017, while the suspension of the Cadillac tax will also make it that much harder to pass the conservative alternative needed to make full repeal a reality. The delay of that tax is also a big win for labor unions.

But that's just the beginning.

The Journal writes, "In one major concession to Democrats, the spending bill won't cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as many conservatives had sought."
The Journal also reports that "the deal would adopt environmental and renewable measures that Democrats want. These include extending wind and solar tax credits, reauthorizing a conservation fund for three years and excluding any measures that block major administration environmental regulations."

And that's not all: "Lawmakers and aides said the spending bill doesn't include any restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S." (It does, however, reportedly "limit certain travel privileges granted to citizens of 38 friendly foreign countries that are allowed to enter the U.S. without obtaining a visa.") 

As always, there's an excuse: the Speaker was under severe time constraints.

Excuses no longer wash with an enraged electorate.

Either what has been happening to this country since 2009 is the deliberate imposition of decline and tyranny and must be reversed with a sense of the greatest urgency, or the enemy - that is to say, the Democrats - will figuratively hold that enraged electorate down and inject it with a hefty dose of befuddled apathy, and then all us cattle-masses will dumbly await our slaughter.