Deut 27:24-25 NKJ `Cursed is the one who
attacks his neighbor secretly.' And all the people shall say,`Amen!' 25 `Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.' And all the
people shall say,`Amen!'
It
takes a bit of thought to connect the offenses defined above to the record of
Washington in 2013 descried in the article linked and copied below. (And it
takes a bit of thought to connect "high crimes and misdemeanors" to
"egregious nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance".) But God is not
mocked.
Deut 32:35 KJV To me belongeth vengeance,
and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their
calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. [See
Jonathan Edward's Enfield message - http://bit.ly/KhutXa
]
The
ways in which Washington has fled reality will result in calamities upon the providentially
appointed responsible governing authority - Rom 13.1 -, the several sovereign
peoples of the several sovereign states and the responsible officials to whom
they have delegated authority under their Constitution.
Escape
to higher ground - Gen 19.17 -. Hear and your soul shall live - Isaiah 55.1-3 -.
Come and drink of the freely given Water of Life -
Rev
22:16-17 NKJ "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things
in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and
Morning Star." 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And
let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever
desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Tom
Coburn: The Year Washington Fled Reality | Wall Street Journal Online | http://on.wsj.com/1d5hRc6
The
past year may go down not only as the least productive ever in Washington but
as one of the worst for the republic.
In
both the executive branch and Congress, Americans witnessed an unwinding of the
country's founding principles and of their government's most basic
responsibilities. The rule of law gave way to the rule of rulers. And the rule
of reality—in which politicians are entitled to their own opinions but not
their own facts, as Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan liked to say—gave way to some
politicians' belief that they were entitled to both their own opinions and
their own facts. It's no wonder the institutions of government barely function.
On
health care, President Obama oversaw a disastrous and, sadly, dishonest launch
of his signature achievement. The president gave an exception to employers, but
not to individuals, without any legal basis, and made other adjustments according
to his whim. Even more troubling was his message over the past three years that
if you like your plan, you can keep it, and that if you like your doctor, you
can keep your doctor. We now know that the administration was aware that these
claims were false, yet Mr. Obama continued to make them, repeatedly.
In
2014, millions of Americans will likely discover that the president's claim
that the average family will save $2,500 on health insurance was equally
disconnected from reality.
The
president apologized in part for his statements, but his actions reveal the
extent to which he has conformed to, rather than challenged, the political
culture that as a presidential candidate he vowed to reform.
The
culture that Mr. Obama campaigned against, the old kind of politics, teaches
politicians that repetition and "message discipline"—never straying
from using the same slogans and talking points—can create reality, regardless
of the facts. Message discipline works if the goal is to win an election or
achieve a short-term political goal. But saying that something is true doesn't
make it so. When a misleading message ultimately clashes with reality, the
result is dissonance and conflict. In a republic, deception is destructive.
Without truth there can be no trust. Without trust there can be no consent. And
without consent we invite paralysis, if not chaos.
Taking
unilateral, extralegal action—like delaying the employer mandate for a year
when Mr. Obama realized the trouble it would cause for businesses—is part of a
pattern for this administration. Immigration and border-security laws that
might displease certain constituencies if enforced? Ignore the laws. Unhappy
that a deep-water drilling moratorium was struck down in court? Reimpose it
anyway. Internal Revenue Service agents using the power of the state to harass
political enemies? Deny and then stonewall. Unhappy with the pace of Senate
confirmations for nominees? Ignore the Constitution and appoint people anyway
and claim that the Senate is not in session.
The
Obama administration hardly has a monopoly on contributing to Washington's
dysfunction. Congress more than earned its 6% national approval rating, a
historic low.
Congress's
most significant action this year was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid 's
decision to undo 200 years of precedent that requires a supermajority to change
Senate rules. To speed the approval of executive appointments and judicial
nominations, Sen. Reid resorted to raw political power, forcing a vote (52-48)
that allows the Senate majority to change the rules whenever it wants. In a
republic, if majorities can change laws or rules however they please, you're on
the road to life with no rules and no laws.
The
supermajority safeguard that prevented senators from destroying the institution
in which they serve is now largely gone. Gone also are members of the majority
who understood the need to protect minority rights. There are no more Robert
Byrds to quote Cicero, who said, "In a republic this rule ought to be
observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power."
Instead,
we have a majority leader who has appointed himself a Rules Committee of one.
Referring to the right of the minority to offer changes to bills under
consideration, Mr. Reid said: "The amendment days are over." Like
President Obama, Mr. Reid is great at message discipline but weak on the rule
of law and reality. His narrative about Republican obstruction of appointees is
a diversion from his own war against minority rights. Even before his wrecking
of the supermajority tradition, Mr. Reid had already used Senate rules to cut
off debate and prevent the minority from offering amendments 78 times—more than
all other Senate majority leaders combined.
On
the budget, Democrats and Republicans alike are celebrating the avoidance of
another nihilistic government shutdown as a great victory. The choice to not commit
mass political suicide may be a step toward sanity, but it isn't reform.
Solving the problem—fixing entitlements, reforming the tax code and
consolidating the government's $200 billion in duplicative spending—would be
reform. Yet as my annual Wastebook report showed, even in this year of
budget-sequestration anguish, the federal government still managed to fund the
study of romance novels, provide military benefits to the Fort Hood shooter and
even help the State Department buy itself Facebook FB +1.02% fans.
If
Congress wants to get serious, and be taken seriously, it can start by doing
its job. It can debate and pass individual appropriations bills—a task that
Congress has not completed in eight years. And perhaps Congress can cut some of
the stupidity in government spending. The House deserves some credit for
trying—it passed four appropriations bills—but the Senate deserves none. Mr.
Reid did not pass a single appropriations bill in 2013, thus shielding
vulnerable members of his party from having to make tough votes.
How
the nation's leaders perform in Washington is a reflection of the country, and
culture, they represent. Moral relativism and postmodern disregard of truth has
been promoted by academia for decades; sometimes it seems that the best students
of that thinking can be found in Washington. We live in a time when laws and
rules are defined however the holders of power decree, and
"messaging" is paramount, regardless how far the message is from
reality.
The
coming year presents an opportunity to Americans who hope for better. Despite
Washington's dysfunction, "We the People" still call the shots and
can demand a course correction. In 2014, here's a message worth considering: If
you don't like the rulers you have, you don't have to keep them. - Mr. Coburn,
a Republican, is a senator from Oklahoma.
I2C
131231a Deu 27v24to25 Year Feds fled Reality / I2C / 131231 1209 / Deut. 27:24-25 Year
Feds fled Reality
