Chris Adamo
Alan Simpson embodies fading RINO "glory days"
By Chris Adamo
Outside of his home state of Wyoming, former Senator Alan Simpson is best known as the Republican collaborator in the 1986 "Simpson Mazzoli" amnesty bill that officially sanctioned illegal immigration and opened the floodgates on the nation's southern border. More recently, he signed on to the empty symbolism of the "Simpson/Bowles Commission," by which Barack Obama sought to put a fig leaf of seeming concern on the nation's burgeoning debt while ensuring that nothing of substance was actually done to curb spending.
Within the Cowboy State, the Simpson family has long enjoyed a status rivaling that of the Kennedys in Massachusetts, with members from multiple generations holding high public office. And among Establishment Republicans in Wyoming, Alan Simpson is regarded almost reverentially, though this is far more of an indication of a general character flaw in that segment the party than any reflection of his true bearing.
Recently, Senator Simpson decided to weigh in on the continuing subterfuge involving RINO Governor Matt Mead and a faction of complicit state legislators, who flagrantly violated the Wyoming Constitution and usurped the duly elected position of Superintendent of Public Instruction, giving the authority of that office to an appointee (and lackey) of the governor. The good people of Wyoming have been thoroughly outraged by this power grab, which nullified the decision of the voters, who had elected Cindy Hill to that office with an overwhelming majority.
Yet even after the Wyoming Supreme Court declared the move unconstitutional, Governor Mead continues to scoff at the Constitution, the Court, and the law by refusing to comply, and instead plays games within the court system as a delaying tactic. The pattern of total lawlessness and corruption in the State Capitol is ominously similar to that of the Obama Administration and its thoroughly corrupt Attorney General, Eric Holder. So at every turn, formerly passive citizens are expressing their anger and standing against the chicanery, doing their utmost to hold accountable every official who participated in the nefarious power grab.
In Park County Wyoming, grassroots Republicans sought to make their sentiments known by voting to censure State Senator Hank Coe, a key player in the SF 104 fiasco. And although the censure effort did not meet the necessary two-thirds vote required for passage, a majority of the delegates at the Park County Republican Convention did support it. It was to their actions, more than any trampling of the State's governing charter or violation of oaths of office by senators, legislators, and the Governor, to which Alan Simpson took exception. Yet in attempting to make his case against them, Simpson did much more to reveal the tremendous failings of the Wyoming Republican Party, and indeed the national GOP as well.
While deriding the ringleaders of the censure effort as "self-serving" for portraying themselves as "sheepdogs" seeking to ward off the political wolves, Simpson managed to vastly eclipse any conceit on their part by presuming for himself and his kind the role of "shepherd." From there, Simpson unleashed his very predictable tirade (to those who know him) of unfettered arrogance and condescension, insisting that involvement by the grassroots is tantamount to forcing and foisting "religious and political ideas on the rest of us." While castigating what he interprets as overheated rhetoric from common citizens in one sentence, he is perfectly willing to hurl venom at those with whom he disagrees in the next. Clearly, in his worldview, the lowly peasantry has no right to engage in such behavior, which historically has been reserved to him and his class.
Amazingly, Simpson asserts that the abhorrent situation created by the Governor and his political minions in the legislature can properly be addressed at the ballot box! One has to wonder what exposure to this situation he might have had, other than his obvious irritation at those little people on Main Street who dare to join forces and speak out against the overreaches and abuses of power by those in government.
Perhaps Senator Simpson does not know that this entire debacle involves the clearly stated "will of the people," expressed on Election Day in 2010, when voters chose Cindy Hill by a two-to-one margin. Yet their decision to have her represent their interests and those of their children in the office of Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction was circumvented by a lawless state government which, not that it has illegally seized control, is increasingly revealed to be exploiting the office, and the tremendous sums of money flowing through it, for the self-serving purposes of bureaucrats in the "right" places. And in response to this horrendous criminal overreach, Senator Simpson wants everyone to calm down, and wait until the Election Day when they can cast yet another vote which may well be ignored with no consequences?
Clearly, the ruling class has enjoyed its perks of office for far too long, and believes itself inherently entitled to that station in life as does everyone on the public dole from the Obamaphone lady to those entrenched politicians with their shady land deals and fat cat single source contracts. And clearly, the biggest threat to such presumed superiority and privilege is the possibility that the lowly masses may one day recognize that it is they who hold the ultimate power to direct the course of the country.
If Senator Simpson and his cohorts have any real regard for the nation's founding documents (which of course he claims), he should respect the fact that the "right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances" is among the first and foremost guarantees of a free and healthy political climate. Nor is its exercise subject to any party approved format. And it is hardly evidence of "cabals and cults within the Republican Party."
Senator Simpson and his kind can seek to deflect attention from the menacing power grabs in the State Capitol and in Washington by stoking concerns over the national debt and its inevitable effects on the future economy. Yet he seems to forget that it was he and his fellow Establishment Republicans who went along with the status quo and thus allowed things to deteriorate to their current condition. Moreover, while claiming to want to limit spending, in the next breath he advocates the dismantling of societal order, the inevitable consequence of which will be ever greater demands on government, at ever greater expense, to deal with the mess.
So if the people of Wyoming and America are interested in actually confronting and reversing the nation's dangerous downward spiral, they must immediately resolve to face head-on the wholly predictable derision of former political "experts," recognize the innate failure of their approach, and plot a new course for the state and the country. On the other hand, if the presumed qualities of "experience" and incumbency are indeed determined to be the critical factors framing the political discourse, and the people submit to them, they have no right to expect anything but more of the same.
© Chris Adamo
April 19, 2014
Outside of his home state of Wyoming, former Senator Alan Simpson is best known as the Republican collaborator in the 1986 "Simpson Mazzoli" amnesty bill that officially sanctioned illegal immigration and opened the floodgates on the nation's southern border. More recently, he signed on to the empty symbolism of the "Simpson/Bowles Commission," by which Barack Obama sought to put a fig leaf of seeming concern on the nation's burgeoning debt while ensuring that nothing of substance was actually done to curb spending.
Within the Cowboy State, the Simpson family has long enjoyed a status rivaling that of the Kennedys in Massachusetts, with members from multiple generations holding high public office. And among Establishment Republicans in Wyoming, Alan Simpson is regarded almost reverentially, though this is far more of an indication of a general character flaw in that segment the party than any reflection of his true bearing.
Recently, Senator Simpson decided to weigh in on the continuing subterfuge involving RINO Governor Matt Mead and a faction of complicit state legislators, who flagrantly violated the Wyoming Constitution and usurped the duly elected position of Superintendent of Public Instruction, giving the authority of that office to an appointee (and lackey) of the governor. The good people of Wyoming have been thoroughly outraged by this power grab, which nullified the decision of the voters, who had elected Cindy Hill to that office with an overwhelming majority.
Yet even after the Wyoming Supreme Court declared the move unconstitutional, Governor Mead continues to scoff at the Constitution, the Court, and the law by refusing to comply, and instead plays games within the court system as a delaying tactic. The pattern of total lawlessness and corruption in the State Capitol is ominously similar to that of the Obama Administration and its thoroughly corrupt Attorney General, Eric Holder. So at every turn, formerly passive citizens are expressing their anger and standing against the chicanery, doing their utmost to hold accountable every official who participated in the nefarious power grab.
In Park County Wyoming, grassroots Republicans sought to make their sentiments known by voting to censure State Senator Hank Coe, a key player in the SF 104 fiasco. And although the censure effort did not meet the necessary two-thirds vote required for passage, a majority of the delegates at the Park County Republican Convention did support it. It was to their actions, more than any trampling of the State's governing charter or violation of oaths of office by senators, legislators, and the Governor, to which Alan Simpson took exception. Yet in attempting to make his case against them, Simpson did much more to reveal the tremendous failings of the Wyoming Republican Party, and indeed the national GOP as well.
While deriding the ringleaders of the censure effort as "self-serving" for portraying themselves as "sheepdogs" seeking to ward off the political wolves, Simpson managed to vastly eclipse any conceit on their part by presuming for himself and his kind the role of "shepherd." From there, Simpson unleashed his very predictable tirade (to those who know him) of unfettered arrogance and condescension, insisting that involvement by the grassroots is tantamount to forcing and foisting "religious and political ideas on the rest of us." While castigating what he interprets as overheated rhetoric from common citizens in one sentence, he is perfectly willing to hurl venom at those with whom he disagrees in the next. Clearly, in his worldview, the lowly peasantry has no right to engage in such behavior, which historically has been reserved to him and his class.
Amazingly, Simpson asserts that the abhorrent situation created by the Governor and his political minions in the legislature can properly be addressed at the ballot box! One has to wonder what exposure to this situation he might have had, other than his obvious irritation at those little people on Main Street who dare to join forces and speak out against the overreaches and abuses of power by those in government.
Perhaps Senator Simpson does not know that this entire debacle involves the clearly stated "will of the people," expressed on Election Day in 2010, when voters chose Cindy Hill by a two-to-one margin. Yet their decision to have her represent their interests and those of their children in the office of Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction was circumvented by a lawless state government which, not that it has illegally seized control, is increasingly revealed to be exploiting the office, and the tremendous sums of money flowing through it, for the self-serving purposes of bureaucrats in the "right" places. And in response to this horrendous criminal overreach, Senator Simpson wants everyone to calm down, and wait until the Election Day when they can cast yet another vote which may well be ignored with no consequences?
Clearly, the ruling class has enjoyed its perks of office for far too long, and believes itself inherently entitled to that station in life as does everyone on the public dole from the Obamaphone lady to those entrenched politicians with their shady land deals and fat cat single source contracts. And clearly, the biggest threat to such presumed superiority and privilege is the possibility that the lowly masses may one day recognize that it is they who hold the ultimate power to direct the course of the country.
If Senator Simpson and his cohorts have any real regard for the nation's founding documents (which of course he claims), he should respect the fact that the "right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances" is among the first and foremost guarantees of a free and healthy political climate. Nor is its exercise subject to any party approved format. And it is hardly evidence of "cabals and cults within the Republican Party."
Senator Simpson and his kind can seek to deflect attention from the menacing power grabs in the State Capitol and in Washington by stoking concerns over the national debt and its inevitable effects on the future economy. Yet he seems to forget that it was he and his fellow Establishment Republicans who went along with the status quo and thus allowed things to deteriorate to their current condition. Moreover, while claiming to want to limit spending, in the next breath he advocates the dismantling of societal order, the inevitable consequence of which will be ever greater demands on government, at ever greater expense, to deal with the mess.
So if the people of Wyoming and America are interested in actually confronting and reversing the nation's dangerous downward spiral, they must immediately resolve to face head-on the wholly predictable derision of former political "experts," recognize the innate failure of their approach, and plot a new course for the state and the country. On the other hand, if the presumed qualities of "experience" and incumbency are indeed determined to be the critical factors framing the political discourse, and the people submit to them, they have no right to expect anything but more of the same.
© Chris Adamo
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