"Following the conclusion of Sen. Rand Paul’s nearly 13-hour filibuster of the White House’s secretive drone program, GOP senators Lindsay Graham (S.C.) and John McCain (Ariz.) took the opportunity to deride his efforts as absurd and “not helpful.”
“I don’t think that what happened yesterday is helpful to the American people,” Sen. McCain said after reading aloud a Wall Street Journal editorial that characterizes Sen. Paul’s concerns as “ridiculous.”...........
The old guard/establishment wing of the Republican party exemplifies why the people stay away from national elections. Not content with having engaged in a wholesale abandonment of American principles of government (And any preservation of American culture), the has-beens (or maybe never-was'es) have refused to support the young and virile defenders of our Republic.
This is the opposite of, for example, a Major League Baseball team. There, the old veterans deserve to be admired by the rookies who grew up watching their heroes on TV and seeing them at the ballparks. The new guys know what the vets have accomplished, want to learn from them how to play better and to win, and have every reason to accept their leadership. One almost never hears of a rookie in the MLB who scoffs at the old guys; they revere the men. They want to hear them recount their experiences and exploits for their teams and the game as a whole. In short, the rookies know that the vets still want to play the game the right way and that they have the same goal - for their team to win.
In turn, the veterans, knowing that they too were once new guys, full of piss and vinegar and eager to do their part, welcome the new blood and recognize that new guys can contribute in ways in which age 30-plus players cannot. They play harder, miss less games, throw harder, have better range in the field and are faster with the bat and on the bases. The new guys play the game like they did when they were twelve years old back in Little League, with a fire in their bellies than cannot be extinguished. The vets respect that determination and intensity and seek to cultivate and encourage rather than suppress or mock these. They look at the news guys, are reminded how motivated they were in their youth, and are thankful for the presence of the hard-chargers. When the team wins a nail-biter in the last inning, the youthful enthusiasm of the rookies rubs off on the veterans, and the whole team benefits.
Rand Paul made a brave, exhausting, and impassioned move. For that he is disparaged by the men who should be commending him for doing what they no longer have the drive, courage, and/or ability to do. I cannot fathom how the entrenched elite of the party were not inspired by his actions, did not feel proud of him, and were not sobered by the implicit reminder of their own inaction They should have been slapping Paul on the back, telling him how much they respect his efforts, and assuring him that he has their support.
From what I gathered, they weren't even there for most of the filibuster.
I personally do not believe that the Republican Part can be salvaged but if I am wrong, the future is with guys like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. The new will have no choice but to brush the doddering, cowed, and lazy old guard of the GOP aside and take their places as the leaders in the restoration of American government and virtues.
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