Four Senators file legislation to stop Barack Obama from arming Syrian “rebels”

After Syria supposedly used chemical weapons against the rebels (we still don’t know if it was the regime or the rebels who used the chemical weapons, all we really know at this point is that chemical weapons were used by someone in Syria) Barack Obama announced that the United States would begin active support of the rebels by supplying arms to the region.

Two Republicans and two Democrats have now filed a bill to defund the arming of these rebels. Here is what Rand Paul had to say:

The President’s unilateral decision to arm Syrian rebels is incredibly disturbing, considering what little we know about whom we are arming. Engaging in yet another conflict in the Middle East with no vote or Congressional oversight compounds the severity of this situation. The American people deserve real deliberation by their elected officials before we send arms to a region rife with extremists who seek to threaten the U.S. and her allies.

I could not agree with this statement any more than I already do but what can we actually expect to come from this? After all; this is the same Congress who took Barack Obama to task over supporting the Libyan and Egyptian rebels without Congressional approval but when push came to shove did nothing to stop it, and this is the same Congress who holds one symbolic vote on repealing Obamacare after another but refuses to defund the legislation, which is what they would do if they were serious about it.

So while I support this effort I am not expecting anything to come from it because it seems to me as if too many members of the Congress feel as if they can gain more support by opposing these issues than they can by actually acting on them. If the Congress were to repeal Obamacare or stop funding these wars it would take these wedge issues off the table in the next election and they want these issues alive and well when voters head to the polls next year. They feel they can gain more politically from continually opposing these issues than they can by actually doing something about them.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel this is a sincere effort by these four men, I just do not think that there is enough sincerity in the Congress to actually get anything done on this. Maybe I am wrong, we will have to wait and see how this plays out. I apologize for my cynicism but I simply no longer trust most of our elected officials to do the right thing because above all they are really only interested in protecting themselves and the power they crave.