Mitch McConnell, either you side with #ThePeople and the Republic or Trump. Time to choose.

Senator Mitch McConnell was the thorn in President Barack Obama’s side from day one. He spent every day of the Obama presidency obstructing any and every action Obama suggested as a path to a better future for all Americans. It can be said, with certitude, that McConnell hamstrung what could have been a transformational presidency and restrained progress for the tens of millions of Americans who had been seeking that change for decades.

Mitch did each and every bit of it knowing exactly what the results of his actions would be. Less help for the poorest and least able to care for themselves. Less investment in the infrastructure of the nation, which is at or over 80 years old in most of the nation. Less freedom for members of our society who have suffered disproportionate punishment from the courts, mainly because of the color of their skin. Less decency in our public discourse and an increase in public violence, mainly in the form of mass public shootings. 

If there was a single person whom one could point at for the high crime of knowing what was wrong in America and doing everything he could to keep things just as they are — it would be Mitch McConnell. Because as a member of the United States Senate since 1984 (35 years and the longest serving Senator from Kentucky), and member of Republican leadership since he was Majority Whip in 2004 (14 years) and the Senate Majority Leader since 2015 (four years) he, more than anyone else, has had the power and authority to make life better for the people of this country — and for nearly 15 years now he has done everything in his power to do the opposite. 

He has championed policies which are rejected by the majority of the people, like keeping LGBTQ people from getting the right to marry — they had to go to the Supreme Court to win recognition of that Right. He has opposed actions and policies which would relieve suffering (notably on the issue of firearms). 

He is today, the face and voice of the conservative Republicans; and for the past two years he has allowed the lying, corrupt, ignorant and self-absorbed Donald Trump to reduce our once respected country to a laughing stock in the Community of Nations. 

Even when Trump went to Helsinki in 2017 and took a podium with the dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin and told the world that he believed Putin over his own panoply of Intelligence Agencies when it came to the purported Russian interference in the election which saw Trump become the 45th President of the United States — Mitch McConnell did and said nothing. 

It’s been 13 days since the federal government of the United States was shut down, because the petulant man-boy in the Oval Office decided, at the last moment, that he wasn’t going to sign the Continuing Resolution which was approved by both Houses of Congress to fund the government for another few months.

Has Mitch McConnell said one word publicly about this dereliction of duty on the part of the sitting president? Hell no, he has not. Point of fact, this is what he has been saying about the #TrumpShutdown - that it’s not his problem. 

He is the Senate Majority Leader of the US Senate. It is his JOB to negotiate with the members of the US House on matters of funding the Federal Government. It says so, right here: 

US Constitution, Article I, Section 7

All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.

and 

US Constitution, Article I, Section 9

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.

Over the past two years, a multitude of our fellow Americans have observed that the man in the Oval Office is not quite right. He makes conflicting statements on a subject in the same speech, sometimes in one of his lengthy, rambling, run-on sentences. He appears to know nothing about how government works. He has appointed and installed a host of people who can charitably be called “unfit for the job”, and in many cases, more appropriately called grifters or con-men, using their high office for personal gain and/or using public monies in ways which are impossible to understand. There is a list of Cabinet Secretaries who have spent sums like $30K on a table and what amounts to a Cone of Silence like the one in the old tv show, Get Smart. 

But the past few weeks things have gone from bad to worse. Trump has personally shut down the government and crowed about the possibility it from the Oval Office in the presence of (now Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer to the tv cameras, because he is being denied over $5 Billion to build a ridiculous wall on the southern border: 

That was December 16th, just a few days before the government did shutdown. Now 800,000 federal employees are without any income, whether they are furloughed or considered “essential” and are being forced to work without any pay. It’s gotten so bad that banks and credit unions which cater to these federal employees are now taking steps to help them, with low or no interest payroll advances and loans. 

Worse off are the contract labor employees of the federal government, who don’t know when or if they’ll have a job to go back to, much less expect a paycheck to cover the time they were ready and able to work but can’t. 

Or the parks and national monuments sites which are now closed and without any trash collection services. There are growing piles of trash in all of them, even those within sight of the White House. 

#governmentshutdown#shutdown Quick pic on my bike ride in. That’s the White House in the background. The National Park can’t empty trash cans next to the Washington Monument. pic.twitter.com/qC93aPVkq5

Television news is full of fresh, new members of the Democratic Majority House and Speaker Pelosi, discussing why it is so imperative to put the government back to work. 

But what does Mitch McConnell have to say about this sad state of affairs? 

Democrats will have to get serious about border security so that a government funding agreement can pass the House, earn 60 votes in the Senate, and receive a presidential signature. All three of these things are needed. One partisan vote in the House won't solve anything.

He is refusing to take any responsibility for this situation. He has said, publicly, that he will NOT bring a Bill to the Floor of the Senate which the President will not sign (which sure as hell is NOT in his job description). He is demanding that Congress, once again, prostrate itself before the feet of the president and give him whatever the hell he wants, and by that, he means over $5 billion taxpayer dollars to build some nebulously defined “wall”. 

It is apparent that Mitch McConnell has forgotten entirely that Congress is not a lapdog for the president, but a co-equal branch of the Government; or perhaps he just doesn’t care. Either way, his behavior in this matter is mind-boggling. 

The Shutdown cannot continue forever. The longest government shutdown in US history was during the Clinton Administration. It was 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996. It was a conflict between Clinton and the Republican Majority Congress over funding for Medicare, education, the environment, and public health in the 1996 federal budget. 

Yesterday, the new Speaker said that the House would not be adding any funding for #TrumpsFolly, that there would be no wall. She will not be changing her tune — this is her very first fight with the Republicans and Trump and she’ll be standing her ground, you can bet on that. 

Trump cannot stop demanding the money for the wall — his base would turn on him in a New York minute. 

The only person left with any wriggle room, and for whom such a move would have little to no blow-back, is Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell. He can take up the two Bills the House passed yesterday (one to fund DHS for about a month and one to fund the rest of the Government thru Sept 30) and bring them to the Floor of the Senate and see what happens. if they pass, he can blame the members of the Senate for voting AYE. 

The truth is, there is no reason for McConnell to fail to bring those Bills, other than his own over-inflated sense of ego. 

I cannot strongly enough urge every single person to call their US Senators today and demand that THEY demand McConnell bring those Bills to the Floor and have a vote. Speaker Pelosi cannot force him to do it, but We the People can. 

McConnell is up for re-election in 2020. He has been pretty much bullet-proof in his seat for all of these years (35 years!) and he has not in recent memory shown an iota that he cares what anyone thinks. But under the current situation, that may no longer be true. So, let’s turn up the heat on Mitch and light a fire under his ass and force him to do the morally and fiscally right thing and get the government running again. 

Even if it means bringing those Bills to the Senate a 2nd time to get an override vote against a possible (and likely) presidential Veto. 

Because the alternative is unthinkable.