The Larger Battle

Watching the battle for gun rights expand locally and nationally, then watching the follow up actions, I’m struck by the way it looks like a coordinated operation. Here in Colorado the gun bills fell into two categories, the local, including Sen Morse’s ham-fisted effort to feed the trial lawyers by ignoring federal law, and the imported, which included the big four laws that got passed. Rammed through actually in spite of massive evidence that almost no one wanted them and that they had been written by someone from far out of state.

The effort was such an affront to the people of Colorado that it’s hard to envision very many Democrats getting reelected downstream. This is where the secondary operations crop up. First off timing is everything. The next elections are nearly 2 years out, and the low information voters and even the mid-information ones can forget a lot in that length of time. Secondarily is the promise of outside influence. Mayor Bloomberg has promised financial support to any Dem needing it in 2014 and has an established record of providing it to his favored candidates. In this state $2M/candidate is a lot of money.

Following up on the favorable timing and generous infusion of money, is a bill to revise the way elections are conducted in Colorado that should insure that no Republican ever gets elected again except in certain very safe districts.. Unlimited mail-in ballots, which will be sent to whatever address the newly registered voter puts down will insure that the home addresses of Democratic precinct captains have a lot of registered voters there. All registered Democrats too, just like in Washington state. Election day registration will make it possible to flood polling places with volunteers armed with receipts for things like utilities, rent, or school tuition, all voting on election day and departing like the proverbial fart in the wind.

Using the Colorado model at the national level, the Manchin-Toomy bill is being pushed in the Senate, while people who have had a chance to actually read it have been warning that there’s more there than is being advertised. I realize that the Dems would like to claim that they passed something, anything at all, but that the likes of Chuck Schumer is willing to vote for it at all tells me that this should probably be killed as soon as possible. If it passes the Senate, expect to see a massive lobbying effort in the form of pet pork projects offered to wavering Republicans in the house. It’s how they got Obamacare through after all.

The follow up to Manchin-Toomy  as far as insuring the Dems don’t lose too many seats is the Gang-of-Eight immigration bill. In return for a modest payoff of $500/head, illegals will be granted amnesty and be allowed to remain here for 10 years after which they can become citizens. Absent the threat of deportation, getting them to register should be a snap. In England a similar program by the Labor party boosted the Labor rolls sufficiently to insure them of parliamentary majorities for the foreseeable future.

Interestingly it appears that the Colorado model may not be working out quite as planned. Bloomberg can deliver enough money to re-elect a state house member or even buy the entire Dem contingent of the Colorado legislature, but re-electing multiple U.S. senators may prove to be beyond even his bankroll.