Reconciliation A Nonstarter for the Senate; But Leave the Nuclear Option Intact.

Reconciliation A Nonstarter for the Senate; But Leave the Nuclear Option Intact.  A key part of the Obamacare passage without a single
Republican vote was the illegitimate use of the reconciliation process.  There is now serious discussion by some Republicans to use that same process to dismantle it.  At the same time, it appears that the incoming Republican majority will not take the “Harry Reid” nuclear option off the table.  In one of these cases, two wrongs don’t make a right; in one, two will.

I have said many times before that any legislation that cannot acquire at least token opposing party support should not be passed.  Any bill with any merit whatsoever should be able to garner some votes from across the political aisle.  The Democrats passed Obamacare in an abnormal fashion and have been paying the price for that act ever since.   Well over 20 Senate Democrats who voted for it have now been voted out of office or decided not to run for reelection.  Obamacare remains a predominantly unpopular program with the public and continues to damage the Democratic brand.  This is the predictable and proper results when a political party chooses to abuse their majority position in Congress.  This is the first reason that Republicans should not use the reconciliation process to attempt repeal or revision of Obamacare.  When a piece of legislation is as sweeping and impactful as Obamacare, it should not be changed in any fashion other than bipartisan.  Lest the Obamacare curse spread across the aisle and begin to infect Republicans, the Grand Old Party had better get a few Democrats on board before trying to dismantle Obama’s byzantine trophy.

On the other hand, the nuclear option is a separate and distinctly different matter.  In today’s world of activist judges and executive overreach, federal judges and agency officials have huge and immediate impact on the everyday lives of American citizens.  Even when proven to be illegal or improper from the get go, our system takes so very long to deal with these judicial transgressions of power and trust that oftentimes the damage is irreparable by the time the original action is overturned.  In the case of federal judges, there must be something astronomically liberating about a lifetime appointment to the bench.  Some of these black-robed monoliths are on such a power-rush that they appear to see our country and its people as nothing more than a human chess board ala “Alice in Wonderland”.  Their irrational and idealist rulings are no less than breathtaking in their boldness and breadth; and since the implementation of the Senate nuclear rule, the Obama administration has loaded up the judicial system with these mavericks at a level never seen before.  In this instance, the danger is so immediate and omnipresent that remedial action must be taken as soon as possible in any possible way.  The need to restore some type of ideological balance to the federal judiciary is so pressing that it would be foolish for the Republicans to shelve the nuclear option at this point.  That genie will likely never go back into the bottle from whence it came.