What's the Big Difference?

My bridge piece hit a nerve with a lot of folks.  I got tons of emails with all kinds of different themes.  Many of them were sob stories about how one time they had to wait at the bridge for hours. 

I get it - sometimes... once in a lifetime... you are severely inconvenienced and that means the entire structure and existence of what inconvenienced you should be torn down and rebuilt.  Makes sense to me.  Hell, they should fill the metro tunnels with dirt and mud and start over here in DC every time there's a delay because some jackass throws himself in front of the train. 

Anywho...

Thanks for all the emails.  I'm sorry traveling between two countries - one of them being the murder capital of the world - is a pain.  Do what I decided to do - stop traveling between those two countries. 

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The big question came down to what would be the difference between Beto and Silver in Washington.  What would be the difference? 

That's an easy question to answer.  For Beto to be any different, he'd have to vote with Republicans infrequently - or all the time.  Reyes' votes are predetermined by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.  He votes exactly how he's told to and always has.  That's why he was chair of a letter writing committee he had no business even being a part of - obedience. 

For Beto to set himself apart as a democrat in Washington in comparison with Reyes, he'd have to do things Reyes doesn't do.  That entails not voting like an obedient democrat. 

And that's it. 

I wish it was more complicated than that, but there is literally nothing Beto can do different.

The Ft. Bliss expansion had nothing to do with Reyes and it will have nothing to do with Beto.  Anyone who has spent more than five minutes in Washington knows that Congress does not have control over non-war associated operations of the military.  The guys at the Pentagon figure out where they want to expand, contract and develop their forces. Congress merely approves the overall funding package. 

Now, sometimes the military likes to provide "cover" for politicians when bases get expanded, closed or otherwise tinkered with so they let them have BRAC-type committees where everyone pretends that the results aren't pre-determined.  The fact is, no group of civilians is going to stand in the way of the military carrying out its strategic objectives. 

There was no way in hell that Ft. Bliss would ever be closed - BRAC applied to all bases because all the politicians wanted to use the gatherings to either toot their own horn or mount a valiant final defense of the base they knew they were losing no matter how many meetings they had.  In El Paso there is no shortage of people taking direct personal credit for the major expansion of Ft. Bliss and they are all full of shit.  You've got democrats and republicans alike saying that they are the person who made it happen, which makes me wonder when all of this "bipartisan" fun took place and why we weren't privy to it when it happened.

Ask a big wig in the military off the record sometime about the possibility of a member of congress or a local businessman steering the mission of a branch of the military through an ad hoc committee and they'll make you laugh with their response.  The last time I asked I was told "The whole BRAC process had about as much sway over base realignment as Venezuelan voters have over who gets to be their dictator."

I can say that I've only heard of one instance where a member of congress - in this case the Senate - had some effect on the movement of a military unit.  Toe Tapping Senator Craig from Idaho took his ball and went home refusing to come out and play until it was agreed that some bombing unit would be moved to Idaho.  His vote was needed to proceed.  I don't recall if they moved the unit or not, but I do remember it was quite the talk of the town in DC at the time and it was agreed that only a Senator could weild that kind of power due to the size of the body they work in.

Basically what I'm saying here is that anybody who tells you that they are responsible for Ft. Bliss expansion, should also take the time to take credit for delivering Jesus in that barn all those years ago and just about anything else they can think of because while you're lying you oughta go big. 

Success has many fathers - failure is always a bastard.  I said that and you can quote me on that.

Comments

[Sucka]

Yeah, but your quote at the end of this is innacurate, and you didn't make it up.

[David K]

Sucka,

Boy, you don't detect sarcasm very do you?