Psst, Sequestration and Benghazi still matter

The nation’s collective head has been turned by the actions of a mad man in Connecticut while Congress and the White House are  still fumbling with some major issues – the fiscal soundness of our great nation and the tragic handling of our country’s defense.

Hillary Clinton is out-of-commission with a concussion just-in-time to delay her testimony to Congress on what her own investigation calls a “systematic failure” to provide security for the diplomats in Libya. People died that asked for additional security well-ahead of the massacre in Benghazi and the State Department released mountains of misinformation about the murder of four Americans under its protection. A few underlings have been let go while Clinton may exit quietly in what is a certainly a great travesty.

The “fiscal cliff” is a product of a Senate unable to produce a budget during the entirety of the Obama administration. The Senate has been unproductive, no, derelict as it has failed to construct a framework for the nation’s finances under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Had the Senate debated and passed a budget to put against the several that came out of the House, a conference committee could have forged a compromise between the two and avoided the mess we are now in. That is how the Constitution demands that Congress work.

These two stories are historic. They matter – greatly. Failing to protect our diplomats overseas projects even more weakness than our President has in his own wishy-washy handling of international affairs. Not even performing the most basic, Constitutionally-mandated duty of providing a budget for the federal government’s operations is also tragic.  Half of the legislative branch is a do-nothing Senate and the Executive Branch has its own investigation labeling it as a failure.

Our government doesn’t work and it’s firmly in the hands of progressive “leadership”.

The mass media are more-than-willing to turn their attention to gun legislation and Republican stonewalling while altogether glossing over the failures of our government that led to these news stories. Journalists are failing to report the whole story because it doesn’t fit their narrative. A Democrat-led Senate’s inaction cannot possibly be the cause of our nation’s ills…. or something.

The Senate should immediately pass a budget, which would include their plans for taxation and spending, but, they won’t. They would have to either deal with reprisals from their political extremes or pass an unfeasible plan for the future that no one could accept. They won’t pass a budget because they lack the will to do the people’s work – damn the consequences. The same reason that the fiscal cliff discussions are failing.

It’s time for Congress and the President to focus on the work of the people and those items specifically ordered by the framework of our government. Fiscal policy and national defense are enumerated powers of Congress. Activities the Senate and White House seem unable or unwilling to perform.

If they can’t manage these most basic functions, why should we expect that they would do anything else. Why should we want them to?