On grasping defeat from the jaws of victory...

It has been said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

In 280 BC at Heraclea and again in 279 BC at Asculum, King Pyrrhus of Epirus forced Roman legions to withdraw from the battlefield defeated. The casualties imposed on Pyrrhus' forces in those two victories however proved devastating, as the Romans regrouped, resupplied, and eventually prevailed. From this chain of events we derive the phrase “pyrrhic victory”, an initial win that ultimately leads to defeat.

So shall it be with the leftist win in the healthcare battle. The forces of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama, by employing bribes, threats, and promises they cannot keep, won a narrow victory in the House of Representatives this past 21 March, but in so doing they ensured the ultimate demise of their power and agenda.

By insisting on ramming through a measure that a clear majority of Americans opposed, the Democrats set the stage for a Republican resurgence in November. Historically the party out of power picks up a few seats in off-year elections, it just seems to be the nature of things. The Democrats however, by thumbing their noses at the will of the people, put in jeopardy every seat they picked up in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and perhaps more.

It would appear from the consensus of all major polls that the best the Democrats can hope for come November are drastically weakened majorities in Congress, with the GOP building significantly on its ability to veto any Democratic initiative in the Senate. Some pundits are predicting a GOP takeover in both houses, but to me that seems unlikely at this point. What is likely however is that both the leftist clique in Congress and President Obama are now finished and will be unable to dominate the agenda going forward.

What is most interesting is that the left is not insured of ever seeing their “reforms” take place. Certainly the GOP in the Senate, whether with 52 seats or 40-some, will be able to block any and all funding and enabling legislation. Without appropriated funding, no new agencies can be formed nor can existing departments and agencies execute any of the language of the just-pasted bill.

Given a couple of years of court fights, the resistance of thirty-some states through opposition legislation, and the inability to actually put any of their grand scheme into action, the vote on 21 March must be considered a catastrophic pyrrhic victory for the left, a foolhardy and fatal monument to the arrogance and narcissism that has marked their governance.