Getting Weirder All the Time

OK, after seeing that its the Republicans, and especially the Tea Party Republicans who are trying to oppose our massive defense spending (see last post), now comes the latest installment of the World Keeps Getting Weirder.

Republican oppositon to Patriot Act increases, Democrat opposition decreases

In an interesting twist following Congress' historical failure to renew the Patriot Act last week, Democrats are migrating to the bill while Republican opposition is gaining. Opposition to the bill by Republicans has nearly tripled since last year's vote.

So, lets see what's going on.

We know voting Democrat didn't repeal the Patriot Act. The Democrats have had the majority of both the House and the Senate since 2006, yet never pushed such a bill. And, now, its a Democrat President and the Democrat in Congress who seem to want to see the Patriot Act extended.

Meanwhile, its the Republicans, and especially the newly elected Tea Party Republicans, who are keeping President Obama and the Democrats in Congress from extending Dubya's Patriot Act.

Would seem to be a surprise, unless you remember almost every Democrat voted for the original Patriot Act, with Sen. Feingold being the noticeable exception.

Gee, one would almost think that to end the war, or to get rid of anti-American "Patriot Act", the thing to do would be to vote Tea Party. The answer sure as heck wasn't to vote Democrat.

Except, this is an old an familiar pattern. The party in power alway favors things like expansive powers to spy on and arrest the citizens of the free and democratic country. The party out of power is always aghast at these awful acts of tyranny. Back when the original Patriot Act was passed, it was proposed and backed by the Republicans, while the Democrats cried about how awful it was. Now, with the Democrats in power, its the Democrats who support it, and its the Republicans who cry about tyranny.

Unfortunately, this is only because the Republicans aren't in control of the executive branch. Let the Tea Party get elected to real power in the executive branch, and they'll become big fans of reading everyone's email, just like Obama is now, just like Dubya was before him.

That's been American politics since Ronald Reagan. Each party howls in opposition when not in power. Each party continues exactly the same when in power. No matter who is in power, the Patriot Act remains.

It does however get hilariously funny watching the people switch roles and script books after an election. So, suddenly its the partisans who think Dubya was a fantastic President who now work against renewing Dubya's Patriot Act because its now Obama, who promised to at least refine if not repeal the Patriot Act, who now is the biggest pusher to have it renewed.

Warning, watching American politics can cause naseau from the rapid switching of positions. If it makes you sick, you have two choices. Turn off and watch American Idol. Or, don't vote for the politicians who always have money, but who switch positions on a dime because they have no ideals. Somebody keeps electing these people.