By: Spiral (Diary)  |  February 25th at 05:28 AM  | 

Conservatives are very much opposed to “rule by the mob” and the “tyranny of the majority.”  We conservatives don’t believe that democracy is an unconditionally a positive influence on society since democracy is basically “two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for dinner.”  A 50 percent plus one majority should not be able to take away our basic rights.   But theory sometimes clashes | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  February 1st at 03:12 PM  | 

We have seen this movie so many times before. Yet, somehow the script maintains the capability of keeping us in suspense. A long serving dictator seems to be a rock of stability. Experts and analysts of the nation claim that the dictatorship is in no serious danger. But then protesters begin to appear on the streets complain of grievances ranging from high food prices to | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  January 8th at 10:04 AM  | 

The Senate Democrats are currently discussing changes to the Senate rules with respect to when it is necessary to file a cloture motion in order to cutoff debate and a few other related issues.  This leads us to the question of not only the arguments in favor and against the proposed rule changes, but also to a discussion regarding the procedures by which Senate rules | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  February 6th at 09:39 AM  | 

During this long tortuous health care debate, many conservatives have voiced strong defenses of the Senate filibuster, a procedural tactic whereby a minority of US Senators can prevent legislation from receiving an up or down vote on the senate floor. Given how destructive the health care legislation currently being considered in Congress would be to our nation, it is understandable that conservatives would encourage the | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 22nd at 11:55 AM  | 

Many conservatives have responded to the election returns by saying, “It’s a good thing that the Gang of 14 preserved the filibuster. Now that we are in the minority, the senate filibuster might be the only thing preventing national health care, Union card check, higher taxes and ultra-left judges on the federal courts.” But this represents, for the most part, a misunderstanding of both the | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 17th at 04:20 PM  | 

Indiana’s 7th congressional district is currently represented by Democrat Andre Carson. He’s the grandson of this seat’s previous occupant, Julia Carson. He won a special election earlier this year and won again in November. He seems to have a safe seat. District 7 seems designed to contain as few Republicans as possible within the Indianapolis metro area. It contains most of Indianapolis. But the wealthier, | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 17th at 02:08 PM  | 

For too long the Republicans in the Senate have clung to the senority system. This is the kind of system that results in giving people like Ted Stevens of Alaska the chairmanship of the Senate Approrpriations Committee and Arlen Specter the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thankfully, Senator Jim DeMint, one of the most fiscally conservative US Senators, is asking Mitch McConnell for a | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 16th at 05:10 PM  | 

Don’t let the title of this diary fool you. I think the Republican Senate minority should use the filibuster whenever they believe the Democrat majority is on the brink of passing legislation that would be bad for the country, which is likely to be a large majority of the time. However, stepping back for a moment from the results of last week’s election results, I | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 14th at 05:09 PM  | 

The voters surprised a lot of people one evening in November of 1994 when they elected the first Republican Congress in 40 years. The GOP gained over 50 seats in the US House of Representatives and 8 seats in the US Senate. They would soon gain 2 additional US Senators when Richard Shelby from Alabama and Ben Nighthorse Campbell from Colorado switched their party affiliations | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 13th at 05:03 PM  | 

When I moved to Indiana this summer, I knew I was moving to a deep Red State, a state where Bush stomped Kerry by 20 points in the 2004 presidential election, winning all but 4 counties. In fact, since 1940, when the Republicans nominated the Hoosier Wendle Wilkie for president, Indiana had only voted for a Democrat presidential candidate once, in 1964, until last week. | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  November 12th at 08:42 PM  | 

In 2005, the Republicans had just seen their President reelected and the majority in the US Senate increased to a 55-45 seat majority. It looked like the judicial filibusters that the Democrats had used to stop conservative judicial nominees from being confirmed in the 2003-2004 Senate might get fair up-or-down votes. But then came a reluctance on the part of some Republican Senators to use | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  October 10th at 08:11 PM  | 

A long time ago, when you wanted to buy a house you would go to a local bank and ask them for a home mortgage loan. The bank would usually ask that you put 20 percent down, look into your credit history, income and assets. The bank would appraise the property to be purchased and mortgaged. If they loaned you the money, they would service | Read More »

By: Spiral (Diary)  |  October 4th at 07:31 PM  | 

The Republican party held a majority in both the US House and the US Senate from January 2003 through December 2006. During that time the stock market (as reflected by the S & P 500) rose by 72 percent. The Democrat party has held a majority in both the US House and the US Senate from January 2007 through present today (4 October 2008). During | Read More »