Sorry for the total lack of posting. I needed a break from the dismal world of politics. The “leadership” we have right now is pretty pathetic and truly painful to watch in action. And the fact they can only seem to work on useless or reckless proposal just underscores how out of gas Big Government is. The other part of my exhaustion with politics is actually living the madness of wasted federal spending during my day job. I sadly see it up close, and it makes you want to puke some days.

For example, why is homeland buying up all the bullets?

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is using roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition more per person than the U.S. Army, as he and other lawmakers sharply questioned DHS officials on their “massive” bullet buys.

“It is entirely … inexplicable why the Department of Homeland Security needs so much ammunition,” Chaffetz, R-Utah, said at a hearing.

Is this just to make gun owners feel the pain of increased prices?

That is waste and abuse in federal spending. And I see it everyday, a bureaucracy on autopilot, the epitome of the drunken sailor in port throwing away money.

Anyway, today is an interesting day, because President Obama may have backasswardly created a new political and fiscal dynamic that will play well for the Libertarian/Tea Party/Small government voters. President Obama and his party have finally provided the path out of our financial tailspin.

It is called Sequestration!

But wait, what is AJStrata smoking to make such a leap? How can this political third rail work?  Well, I laid out the argument back in March when Sequestration took hold:

Finally, the situation that SHOULD have been in place in 2011 (after the GOP swept the house) is finally here. President Obama, due to the rules of sequestration, must now start cutting costs. And true to form, his incompetent team started cutting melodramatically – to create political theater.

But the problem with this simpleton idea is the fact that the bloated federal government is ripe with waste, fraud and abuse – and at every level. The train of failed Solyndra’s alone will provide endless fodder for GOP to push back on team Obama’s melodramatic cuts:

…

Either he [President Obama] makes melodramatic cuts, which are [then] answered by the GOP pointing out where cuts should have been made, or Obama makes smart cuts and is labeled an exaggerator whose words mean nothing.

Checkmate.

And this is why you need a spine in this town to actually win the day. This day should have arrived 2 years ago.

My prediction played out for real just this week over the FAA. And the melodramatic Democrat/Left are just now starting to realize what they wrought:

The Democrats have lost on sequestration.

That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future.

Recall the Democrats’ original theory of the case: Sequestration was supposed to be so threatening that Republicans would agree to a budget deal that included tax increases rather than permit it to happen. That theory was wrong. The follow-up theory was that the actual pain caused by sequestration would be so great that it would, in a matter of months, push the two sides to agree to a deal. Democrats just proved that theory wrong, too.

In effect, what Democrats said Friday was that in any case where the political pain caused by sequestration becomes unbearable, they will agree to cancel that particular piece of the bill while leaving the rest of the law untouched. The result is that sequestration is no longer particularly politically threatening, but it’s even more unbalanced: Cuts to programs used by the politically powerful will be addressed, but cuts to programs that affects the politically powerless will persist.

This epiphany by Ezra Kline is both accurate and pathetic.  Here, Kline calls people who travel by air “the politically powerful”.  And of course, the Homeland Defense’s bullet addiction represents the politically powerless! He should know anything that really impacts Americans will be seen as a important enough to fund, like efficient AND secure air travel.

Update: Reader Frogg1 noted this deflating reality:

And this caused furloughs?  Maybe its time to investigate where  the $225 million went, if not to the FAA workers?

A similar conclusion on sequestration is apparently forming over at Powerline – end update

What we are seeing, left-wing drama queens, is called prioritization. We are making decisions on what we can afford and not afford. There is so much waste in government you could probably cut it in half and we would not see a serious impact in needed, obvious services.

Team Obama was dumb to pick a fight with everyone flying – and of course he lost. Just like the GOP lost when they shut down government.

But what does this incident tells us about the future? It tells us we need to expand and grow sequestration, to force the government and the governed to prioritize. Let’s just call it the death panel for endless growth in federal spending. Every single program is now up for assessment. It must prove its value and need not in isolation, but in comparison to all the other priorities coming. What can we dump to keep Head Start? That is now the question!

And as long as Dems field this kind of political genius to argue for Big Government spending, We The People will be able to whittle the bloated federal behemoth down to size. One program at a time.

More here and here (h/t Memeorandum]

Tags: FAA, GOP, Obama, Sequestration