House Changes Rules, Makes It Harder to Oust Johnson From Speakership
(www.thegatewaypundit.com)
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True. And never forget, when thinking of Congress and why they do such incomprehensible things, that there is a cynical thing at work called "the power of no" or alternately, "there is no power in yes."
It goes like this... if a congress-critter says yes to something on its first offering, there is no power in that. However, a "no" can get you all kinds of leveraging power, the chance to negotiate your vote for something of value, say a new library in your district with (gasp!) your name on it. So the "no" is traded now for a "yes" and a transaction has been made.
There is no power in "yes" but there's lots of power in "no"....at least to a limited degree. To the less principled critters, this is the cynical way Congress operates and has for a long time.
Sometimes true, but the counterpoint would be what happened between AOC and Gerry Connolly. Connolly was the consistent "yes" vote for however many decades. AOC opened her wings to fly and shout "no" to party leadership--which has value to the public--but had no value in the fetid halls of the swamp.
Connolly's dutiful yes votes allowed him to chair a committee in the later years of his filthy career in the swamp.
Well, the "power of no" is simply one tool in a toolbox of grift and mendacity, not to be used often or unadvisedly, but it can come in handy occasionally. I suspect that over the last 60 years, that little tool has been used more than anyone might suspect.
And Connolly is one of the filthiest of the filthy infesting the swamp.
Where’s that Ron Paul library?
I want to visit that one!!!