An Open Letter to Conservative Pundits

Quite a bit of the conservative commentary I've been reading lately has centered around a certain theme. It is basically that poor Republican's are working hard, doing the "peoples' business" nominating judges, slashing budgets, pretending to help disaster victims, getting indicted, etc. etc.

These same hardworking conservatives are darn well sick and tired of taking it on the chin day after day while lazy democrats do nothing but sit around and stir the pot and make things difficult for these warm, fuzzy, hardworking republicans.

EXUSE ME?

I mean I have to say, I really wish these armchair pundits would acquire at least a passing acquaintance with the study of politics. “democrats are happy to sit by and let blah blah blah”.

Now I realize conservatives are in a very bad mood these days. Heck, they have every reason to be. However, commentary like this simply demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of the most basic principles of political theory.

You see, there is this concept known as “political capital”. It is the very currency by which Washington, and by extention, America (and by extension the world) operates. Heck, George Bush used his to launch a senseless war for oil that ended up doubling gas prices!!

Lesson #1: Political capital is a VERY precious commodity. You expend it wisely and you definitely do not expend it when you don’t have to. With that in mind, why, for heavens sakes, would democrats do anything but sit back and watch the Republican Party implode. They have everything to gain without expending an ounce of political capital. This moment has been hard earned. For five long years liberals have expended political capital in order to make the point that the Bush administration (aka the Texas Mafia) is corrupt, arrogant, cruel, lying and contemptuous. These same liberals did so to rousing and unrelenting criticism. Democrats appear to be finally reaping the benefits of these now prescient observations. This moment is simply a time for them to sit back quietly and watch the fireworks.

My advice to whiny conservative pundits that are all in a stitch about do-nothing democrats: your lack of political prowess may explain why your party is in such disarray. As for us simple-minded liberals, hope you don’t mind if we sit back and chew on some texas bluegrass.