US system of checks and balances almost dead, on one side are both political parties and editorial pages of estabishment media. A few Tea Party supporters in congress are all that exists between the people and total state control

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GOP 'leadership's' agenda is same as democrat agenda. Which is, shut-up.

7/7/13, "Examiner Editorial: House Tea Party Brigade is Washington's most independent political force," Washington Examiner Editorial

"Among the most prized and frequently claimed — yet least often demonstrated — virtues in establishment Washington is political independence. Politicians in both the Democratic and Republican parties routinely insist that they are independent. There are even two senators who call themselves "Independent" but both caucus with Senate Democrats and almost never vote contrary to the wishes of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The truth is there is only one genuinely independent political force in Washington these days, the Tea Party, a fact that is abundantly demonstrated by the future prospects for the recently passed immigration reform bill in the Senate.

The Senate version of immigration reform — despite bipartisan support on the Senate floor, in the Obama White House, in every precinct of lobbyland on K Street and throughout the mainstream media — will never pass the House of Representatives, thanks to the Tea Party. As Washington Examiner senior political coumnist Tim Carney observed last week, the only truly independent political force in Washington is the Tea Party. "The Tea Party has cultivated in House Republicans such a distrust of the establishment and such a disregard for party unity that even when the issue isn't a Tea Party issue — and immigration isn't, really — the GOP rank and file have little interest in doing what they're told.""...

[Ed. note: This makes it sound like members are robots which isn't the case. Tea Party supporters generally try to put the country's interests first. Slicing and dicing whether something projects party unity is fine, but the reality is GOP 'leadership' has merged with democrats. They want the same big government. The sides still pretend they're adversaries. GOP 'party unity' just means uniting with democrats.]

(continuing): "A key reason why is the earmark ban, which deprives House leaders of the ability to buy votes with pork barrel. Thus, when the Senate passed its immigration reform, House Speaker John Boehner almost immediately called it dead on arrival and promised a separate House bill approved through the "regular legislative process."

But don't go looking for praise of Tea Party independence on the editorial pages of the major establishment media outlets like the K Street lobbyists Charlie Black, Ken Duberstein and Ed Rogers.
Also backing the Senate measure is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour and the lobbying firm he founded. Differences between these traditional GOP powers and Democratic powerhouses are strictly matters of degree, not principle..

So it is left to the Tea Party Brigade in the House Republican Caucus to force constructive action on issues
linked to immigration reform that demand independent thinking. If border security is to be credibly addressed, for example, it will be because the Tea Party Brigade demands concrete measures and enforceable developmental milestones, not because the Senate Gang of Eight agreed to eyewash promises of added Border Patrol agents and greater reliance on surveillance technology that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano can ignore. An immigration reform measure may ultimately be approved by the House, but it will be too independent to please establishment Washington." via Instapundit.

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Comment: Obama helped the GOP defeat the Tea Party in 2012 by allowing the IRS to be used against them. The GOP owes Obama big time:

Obama re-election helped GOP House Speaker Boehner: NPR

12/8/12, "Once Boxed-In, Boehner May Finally Be Master Of The House," NPR, Frank James

"In a paradoxical way, Obama's re-election victory coupled with congressional Democrats adding to their numbers may have helped Boehner. Some of those wins came at the expense of the Tea Party, the conservative movement whose affiliated House members have been very willing to stand up to Boehner.

In recent weeks, Boehner...has gotten his entire leadership team to sign his tax-raising, fiscal-cliff counteroffer....

Despite complaints from conservative activists and bloggers, however, Boehner remains the most powerful Republican in Washington.". 



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