Back to business as usual? I don't think so.

In what is presumably a hat tip to the Tea Party, Republicans in the House will read the Constitution on the floor and will require that each bill presented include a memo outlining how the bill conforms to the Constitution.  Not everyone is impressed:

"I think it's entirely cosmetic," said Kevin Gutzman, a history professor at Western Connecticut State University who said he is a conservative libertarian and sympathizes with the tea party.

"This is the way the establishment handles grass-roots movements," he added. "They humor people who are not expert or not fully cognizant. And then once they've humored them and those people go away, it's right back to business as usual. It looks like this will be business as usual - except for the half-hour or however long it takes to read the Constitution out loud."

I supposed that Prof. Gutzman could be correct.  Maybe this nothing more than a legislative parlor trick-the equivalent of giving a screaming kid a lollipop so they'll shut up.  But does anyone really believe that members of the Tea Party or the 912 Project or just plain folk who for the first time have become involved in the political process will be mollified by empty gestures?

Yes, that is exactly what they believe.  On both the Left and the RINO Right, the conventional wisdom is that the Tea party will simply peter out.  Or as Sen. Lindsey Graham put it:

"The problem with the Tea Party, I think it's just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country. It will die out."

Actually there is a lot to be said for being "misunderestimated".  And being misunderestimated beats the hell out of being taken for granted.  The base, you and I, have been taken for granted for along time and I don't see any of us ever sitting quietly in the corner again.

I could not possibly care less whether the Left takes my political awakening seriously and I am willing to give the Republican Party a second chance.  But I don't think I am alone when I say I will be watching our Congressmen closely and any attempt by Republicans to return to their old ways will be met with fierce resistance.  Remember, the next election is less than two years away.