Knowing He Did His Best

TED CRUZ, the young, handsome tea party-toting senator from Texas, never got any sleep last night, to say the least. He spent the evening, and most of the day previous, standing and delivering on the floor of the United States senate. During his more than twenty hours of speaking, the senator talked about the evils of Obamacare, the necessity of defunding it at all costs, but he took the time to read Dr. Seuss, "Green Eggs and Ham", to his young daughter, whom he hoped was watching on C SPAN. When speaking in the Senate, there are no rules concerning subject matter; one can say whatever one wants, relevant or not. Senator Cruz's daughter was quite likely in bed asleep, and missed "Green Eggs and Ham". That's a shame, its one of my personal favorites. Someday he will be able to tell his grandchildren that he personally participated in that grandest of american traditions, the right to talk your head off, as long as you don't sit down and don't stop talking, known as the "filibuster". Anyone who has seen the classic american movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" knows all about filibusters. Nobody ever did it better than the young Jimmy Stewart, who did it for the heroic cause of stopping a notorious political machine from ruining his noble plan to establish a summer camp for boys (not girls, not in the 1930s) on a site coveted by said machine for industrial development. In the end, Stewart wins( winds) the day, just as he passes out on the floor of the senate, exhausted, and the boys in the spectators section cheer wildly. It is to be hoped that senator Cruz will not suffer a similar fate, that he won't faint dead away, and that he won't be successful in stopping his particular political nemesis-machine and its pet project, Obamacare. He won't, and he won't be. Filibustering is a young man's game, Cruz seems to be in good shape, but there appears to be no way in hell that he can derail, or even delay, Obamacare. So what's his point? Why,to make his point, of course! None of the democrats will give him the time of day, and several of his republican conservative colleagues have spoken of his folly, and refrained from supporting him, so, soon as his legs cramp, his knees buckle, his throat screams with pain, and his will is broken, he'll leave the senate floor, take a good long nap, then perhaps head for somewhere nice, like six flags over Texas, for a break, knowing he did his best. Obamacare will go into effect, all americans will have health insurance for the firt time ever, and people will pay a price based on age, income level, and location. Some people could end up paying as little as eleven dollars a month, it has been calculated. There will probably come a time when we all wonder what all the fuss was about. (there was just as much fuss about social security, medicare, and medicaid). Senator Cruz, if he chooses, and he probably will so choose, can avoid asking himself "where was the beef?", and content himself to know only that he gave it his best shot, tried valiantly to stem the rising tide of socialism, and to shut down the government in the process, regardless of cost or consequences. He will know that he did his very best.