John Madden and Harry Reid: Both changed their fields forever.

America lost two well-known personalities: John Madden and Harry Reid. Madden was a former NFL coach and iconic, ground-breaking TV football announcer; Harry Reid was a lifelong politician who led the U.S. Senate as Majority Leader from 2006-2014.

Each man was a towering figure in his field. Madden introduced the football TV audience to a new way of looking at football plays and strategy that brought those Xs and Os to life and bestowed a whole new level of understanding to the casual observer. As Tim McCarver did for baseball, Madden brought the game closer to the American public by enhancing their understanding of what was actually going on in the minds of players, coaches and owners. His observations and prognostications were usually right on. He made the game of professional football more enjoyable. That is his major legacy to all of us.

Harry Reid was a cutthroat, Democrat politico who ruled the Senate with an iron fist for eight years. In the great spirit of his party, Reid would do anything to further his agenda. Working with a Democratic House led by Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama, Reid was often frustrated in his legislative efforts by the Republican Senate filibuster. To get around this “inconvenience,” he used reconciliation to push through a massive piece of legislation known as Obama Care on a strict Party-line vote.

Reid’s legislative agenda was completely undermined after the Republicans regained control of The House in 2010. Focusing on appointments, one of Reid’s major political mistakes — and an ultimate gift to the Republicans — was his decision to cancel the Senate filibuster on federal judicial appointments and executive cabinet nominees. This enabled Democrats to approve these appointments with a simple majority rather than 60 votes. This act ultimately blew up in Reid’s face when Mitch McConnell extended the so-called “nuclear option” to SCOTUS nominees, directly clearing the path for the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch and eventually resulting in the confirmations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Whatever Reid’s overall legacy might be, I will remember one of his final acts as epitomizing his crowning legacy to his party: As a Senator immune from legal retaliation, Reid lied to the American public from the Senate floor by accusing, without proof, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of cheating on his taxes. Whether this accusation affected the election outcome is debatable. But a year later, Reid appeared in an interview where he was questioned about the false allegations he made about Romney’s taxes. When he was asked to defend his behavior, his response was, “We won, didn’t we!”

That’s the legacy Harry Reid passed on to his fellow Democrats. I’m sure he’d be proud of the Adam Schiffs and Eric Swallwells who have carried on Reid’s tradition of lying, leaking and stealing to win at all costs. Even now, Dems - with a 50-50 Senate and a 7-vote House majority - are trying to figure out ways to suspend/cancel the legislative filibuster so they can pass their Build Back Broke agenda (aka Green New Deal) and Voter Reform Legislation that would federalize election laws (contrary to the Tenth Amendment). Be careful what you do Dems: The Republicans are about to regain control of Congress in 2022 and may well hold their majorities for a long time to come.

Steve Nussbaum is an active insurance agent specializing in the important planning areas of long-term care and Medicare.