Do they have the guts to force Democrat filibusters?
By Margo Carlisle web posted November 18, 2002 Republicans are today appropriately applauding President Bush for his remarkable “expenditure of political capital” in pursuit of the congressional victories needed to provide legislative support for his policies. While public understanding of that truism is unimportant as long as the White House understands it, another, more apropos truth is widely misunderstood. The political capital myth is just that, a myth. It is impossible for political capital to be “expended” (if expended means decreased or depleted) any more than can a supply of courage, love, or power be diminished by use. In Washington especially, power applied is power augmented. Power, or to go back to current terms, “political capital”, which goes unused, dwindles and evaporates. Power unused is power forgotten. So much for the first, a pre-election misunderstanding. The second is a post-election, worrisome mistake. Americans seem to think, now that the President has a majori
