What Exactly Is the Goal Here?

This roller coaster ride is making me sick.  Last night I was thrilled with Speaker Boehner's response to Obama's comments on the debt ceiling battle.  I thought the speaker's remark, "When government gets bigger, the people get smaller" was especially poignant and is the type of remark that sticks in people's minds.  He nailed it.

Then today he called into Rush's show to give further details on the plan he has proposed for raising the debt ceiling.  As it turns out, the debt ceiling would be raised, allowing for an immediate expansion in spending of $1 trillion and would be coupled by a reduction in spending of $1 trillion...over 10 years.  As most of us know, congress is prohibited from binding future congresses, so, while it is fine and dandy to have today's congress promise $1 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, there is absolutely not one thing that would stop the congress that's sworn in January 2013 from throwing that plan out the window.  I was listening to the speaker, thinking to myself, "What on earth do we gain if we allow all the cuts to be spent?"  Then when he explained the timeline, he totally lost my support.

Here's what I want:  I want a full-on revolt.  I want the Republicans to throw the gauntlet down; refuse to budge even one millimeter; demand a serious reduction in spending with NO corresponding increase in spending (can't believe I even have to write that); no hesitation whatsoever in their position; repeat, repeat and repeat some more how incredibly and profoundly necessary spending cuts are; stop saying how nice their colleagues are.  Nobody cares.  I want to see major fire in the belly, teeth-gnashing, fight-or-die battle going on, here.  I want to clone Senator Jim DeMint, Cong. Steve King, Cong. Joe Walsh and Cong. Allen West.  COME ON PEOPLE.  Watching our leaders in this battle is like watching Steve Urkel in a boxing match.  Something tells me he isn't going to get into his opponents face and SEEK THE FIGHT.

The only good I see coming out of this is all this messing around and lightly slapping at each other, rather than fully engaging, is they are just galvanizing the tea party movement more than they can comprehend.  I have a feeling that, while 2010 was big, they haven't seen anything yet.  What they provide is a daily reminder that our work is far from done.