The Vertex

The very very tip of the partisan point behind Frist's staunch efforts to ram through permanent alterations in the structure of the Senate is to alter the forces of government for as long as possible toward the conservative agenda:

The campaign to prevent the Senate filibuster of the president's judicial nominations was simply the latest and most public example of similar transformations in Congress and the executive branch stretching back a decade. The common theme is to consolidate influence in a small circle of Republicans and to marginalize dissenting voices that would try to impede a conservative agenda.

House Republicans, for instance, discarded the seniority system and limited the independence and prerogatives of committee chairmen. The result is a chamber effectively run by a handful of GOP leaders. At the White House, Bush has tightened the reins on Cabinet members, centralizing the most important decisions among a tight group of West Wing loyalists. With the strong encouragement of Vice President Cheney, he has also moved to expand the amount of executive branch information that can be legally shielded from Congress, the courts and the public.

So this trend exposes itself for what it really is: a consistent mobilization against Liberalism itself, with the effort to force the American Agenda toward a conservative mandate. Neo-Cons fit in well with this- action-oriented ideologues find the concept of a permanent alteration of government to be quite the juicy prospect.

Why are they so intent on accomplishing this now? Because, likely, they know that their majority is thin, and dissapating quickly. These are motions of nothing more than desperation, a quick burst of activity to accomplish what can while they can. It stands in stark contrast of Delay's push toward redistricting Texas Democrats out of office- the time for calculation and manipulation in secret has come to a close for the extreme Republicans, and the Democrats must continue to shear away the moderates from the party in order to prevent this current jingoist madness from infiltrating the very fabric of American government.

Now is the time to fight.