My Favorite Consultant Is At It Again

http://davesaunders.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/mudcat-takes-up-cantor-challenge/


Dave "Mudcat" Saunders has taken up with a long shot candidate..again.  As you might know, Saunders is the political mastermind behind Mark Warner's successful run for the Senate.  Warner, then a political nobody and Virginia outsider, used Saunder's backwoods know-how to amble and ramble his way into the seat.  This time Saunders has undertaken Wayne "Not Collin" Powell who is running against Eric Cantor for the 7th Congressional District.  This is great for those of us who pull for the political underdog, and like to see incumbents kicked out, but...but there could be a problem.

Mudcat Saunder

Wayne "Not Collin" Powell

The TEA party came into office in a tidal wave.  No one can deny that.  Cantor is fringe TEA (I think..hell I don't really care), but unlike the rest of the TEA Partiers he had some experience in government making him an exception.  It would be great to see Cantor gone. He has gained nearly enough power to make me scared and I (technically, as I made aware to the Roanoke County Police officer before he chewed me out about it) do not live in Virginia. I have started to question Cantor as a so called "Young Gun" that is out for the common sense for the common good.  He has, like many politicians seeking larger roles, fallen in line with the House Republicans and votes accordingly.  Who can really blame him?  Step too far out of line and they might replace your closeted TEA Party butt out of office for a "true American" TEA Partier.

Eric "I'm not sure I have a nickname" Cantor

Despite Cantor's flaws, there is one thing he has in his favor. Experience. And Cantor should run on it.  My point in bringing up the TEA Party is that it came in with people who generally had no political experience.  Some had time in state government, but many had not so much as run for dog catcher before getting involved in the "grassroots" movement known as the TEA Party.  John Q. Public loved the darlings for it too.  We heard how they were going to kick all the foogies out of Washington and take back our country.  As we now see the problem lies in the fact that that they kicked out all the foogies and took over the country.  Now Congress is deadlocked and no one will budge.  Why? Because Democrats are scared stiff less they will get thrown out for dealing with the TEA Party, and what is left of the Republican party is afraid of sitting in the catbird seat with some guy in a tri-cornered hat waving a Gadsden Flag right on his tail.  The other reason Washington has ground to a halt is for lack willingness on the TEA Party's to budge.  Either they lack the political skill to reach a compromise or they simply will not.  This first option is cured with a heavy dose of experience....and gin.

All TEA Partiers Bow To The Almighty Gadsden

The overarching problem with the TEA Party was not the TEA Party itself (although I would say they have a few) it is the average citizen.  What John Q. Public fails to understand (que Thomas Jefferson rolling in grave) is that it does take some time to get the job of governing done.  Think of the United States as a big boat.  Does it turn on a dime? No! So why does Average-Joe American think that a new wave of freshly minted politicians is going to help.  I would equate it to kicking the captain of that very large boat out, and replacing it with a pimple faced kid who once drove a hover boat on Mario-Kart (do they have hover-boats on Mario-Kart? Does anyone play Mario-Kart anymore?) It is not going to end well.  Thus the TEA Party is left with no possible answer to the question "I thought yall were going to change the way government works, what happened?" expect to blame the Democrats or President Obama.  Those responses lead to a second set of issues. Niether option is a healthy way to govern.  Add all that together, sprinkle in the a dash of Mitt "No Chance" Romney and you are left with the TEA Party having to learn how to compromise..which they won't. Meanwhile back at the ranch, America's government is stalled on the tracks and there seems to be a increasingly loud rumble.

Thomas "Dangit Yall've Messed This Up" Jefferson

I am by no advocating for leaving ineffective law markers in office (in fact I like to see new people), but a certain level of experience is needed to navigate the tricky waters of the  national government.  Such experience is best gained in lower levels of government where the passion of the people is (and if not should) be best shown.  Leaders would best be served with a few years on the town council where they learn the skills of compromise.  Their actions taken under the careful eyes of an educated populous, at the ready to huffy and puffy is something goings wrong.  Granted the House of Representatives is prone to the winds of change more so than the Senate, we must be careful not to blow so hard the fruit falls off.  In the same line, whomever is President does feel the breeze but there is no need for a jacket.  The boys and girls over at the Supreme Court don't even know what wind is, and that is the way it should be.  Kicking bad government out is what Americans do best. It's in our DNA. What we have to do is carefully select what bad government is, identify who is at fault and replace them with competent people.  It takes some homework on the part of the people, but it is worth it.