The People’s House… A Historic Opportunity To Lead Should Not Be Squandered On A Squish

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First there was Eric Cantor. Then there was John Boehner. Now there’s Kevin McCarthy. But somehow conservatives are once again being encouraged to grab defeat out of the hands of victory. This time by electing amnesty advocate Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House.

We’ve been told the House is dysfunctional. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is exactly how the House is supposed to operate. When someone doesn’t have the confidence of his party and they are in the majority, he should be shown the door. But we’re told that a group of right wing Tea Party types are somehow keeping the people’s representatives from governing. If only that were only true! If it were, Obamacare wouldn’t be funded. It is. Barack Obama’s amnesty wouldn’t be funded. It is. The debt ceiling wouldn’t have been raised like a helium balloon. It was. Unfortunately, the conservatives in the House have had little success stopping the big government policies of Barack Obama, the Democrats and the GOP establishment.


So, now, today, after the three highest members of the House GOP establishment are either out the door or on their way out, members are being encouraged to put a guy who is 100% establishment, Paul Ryan, in charge.

Not only should they ignore pleas to put Ryan in charge of the House, they should select a real conservative from the Freedom Caucus like Jim Jordan or Mark Meadows. In addition, they should immediately call for a Motion to Vacate the Chair and stop Boehner from doing… pretty much anything.

Of course we hear the gnashing of the teeth from the usual quarters of the establishment telling us that this is a disaster for the GOP… that a fight over Planned Parenthood, a fight over the debt ceiling, a fight over the Continuing Resolution will be suicidal for the GOP if they end up in a stalemate that ends up “shutting down the government.” Frankly, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Two years ago we heard the same thing when Ted Cruz shut down the Senate as he fought to defund Obamacare. We were told that the GOP would be blamed for the government shutdown – which, sadly, is nothing even close to a shutdown as 83% of the government still operated normally – and would likely lose all chances to take the Senate and would probably lose the House to boot. Then when the election finally came a funny thing happened… the GOP picked up seats in both houses and picked up the Senate in an historic win.

In 2010 the GOP picked up the House telling the country it would stop Obamacare. Led by the establishment, it didn’t. In 2014 the GOP picked up the Senate telling the American people it would stop Obama’s illegal amnesty. Once again the squishes in the middle buckled. The only reason the House is in turmoil today is because enough Americans voted to stop Barack Obama that something called the Freedom Caucus exists to throw it into that turmoil.

As I quoted Jim Dint saying in 2010 when I wrote in support of Christine O’Donnell for the Senate from Delaware over the despicable squish Mike Castle, “I’d rather lose fighting for the right cause than win fighting for the wrong cause.” What’s the point of winning if the guys you elect do exactly the same things the guys you voted against would have done? The voters have had enough of GOP squishes… as was demonstrated by Mitt Romney’s dismal performance at the polls in 2012. They want leadership that is willing to stand up and say they will fight Barack Obama’s leftist agenda, and then actually do so. Fight on the killing of babies in the womb? Bring it on. Fight to stop empowering government largesse via another debt ceiling increase? Absolutely. Fight to stop the drive to turn the country into a third world banana republic via open borders? When do we start?

In 2010 and 2014 Americans showed the GOP they were willing to support a fight to when they sent Representatives and Senators to Washington who had indeed promised to fight the progressive cancer that has taken over Washington. Once again, once in power however, the party demurred from the fight.  The GOP establishment types were more interested in the perks of office, their privileges in Washington, making sure big donors were happy than actually accomplishing what voters had sent them to Washington to do.  That’s the reason the GOP brand is so damaged, not “dysfunction”.

We are in a unique moment in American history and for once the GOP has the opportunity to show real leadership when it really counts… i.e. in the run-up to the most important election in a generation. Not only should they not make Paul Ryan or any other amnesty loving establishment squish Speaker, they should find the most vocal, passionate conservative voice they can and proudly follow him as he leads a national debate on whether the future of America is one of prosperity driven by free markets and limited government or malaise and decline driven by government spending and regulation.  In the unlikely event they lose, so be it.  If a prosperous America is to be replaced by a third world banana republic, let freedom’s death come after a full-throated defense of liberty rather than following a faux battle where party leaders put on a show for the little people but share cigars and whiskey in the halls of Congress as they divvy up the spoils of power.  

Now is exactly the time for such a full-throated fight, and appropriately enough history has put the People’s House on center stage. The question is, does the GOP have the courage to actually lead in a fight when it counts or would they rather play a paper tiger as Barack Obama sets fire to the United States Constitution?

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why no mention of Hastret ? He was a good conservative who served as the longest GOP Speaker in history ? And a damn good conservative who passed the Hastret rule: no bill could be introduced unless it passed a majority of the majority.
Was he thrown under the bus simply because of those pesky serial gay rape of young boys charges ?
After the Dems win in 2016 POTUS that person will be able to put probably 2 Supremes on the bench. That coupled with a judge’s natural tendency to become more liberal with age will have an effect on the gerrymandering of congressional districts

Am I a RINO? I have voted Republican since my first election. I’m an immigrant, legally brought here as a young child. I’m a Navy retiree married to a Navy retiree, and parent of two military children, one retired medically, the other is at the 15 year mark. I’m an educator married to an educator who refuse to pay union dues but must pay agency fees. I’m appalled by most of the platforms of Progressives and liberals. They seem unattached to reality and are short sighted and destructive. The vitriol, personal attacks and attempts to silence any debate is destructive to a thriving Democracy.
And what do I see from the Freedom Caucus? Do I see an attempt to engage and persuade or do I see vitriol, personal attacks and attempts to silence? Look at what you wrote: RINO, squishes, your attacks on Boehner and Ryan and more, showing certainty and righteousness, rather than persuading Conservatives like me.
Do I see a willingness to listen, to debate on policy, not on how truly conservative someone is? Not here. When you demonize others for listening, your group gets smaller, not larger. And, looking for perfection, you destroy what others have built, yes, like Speaker Boehner. Try turning around a small sailboat and it turns quickly and (usually) easily, now try that with a cargo ship. You can’t blame a cargo ship for failure to turn on a dime. You can’t make permanent changes unless you persuade. And, if you continue, you will get a Democrat in the White House, you will lose seats in the House, and you will certainly get more of the judges on the Supreme Court bench who will permanently damage this country and its freedoms. I don’t think we can afford that, and scorched earth tactics are the surest way that will happen.
There is no perfect person to be House Speaker. There is no unity in the House at present. There is an opportunity to listen, to persuade, and to agree on principles that you can live with and to plan for progress painstakingly hammered out using long term strategy. At first, some of the progress will “only” consist of stemming more blatant executive power grabs, later, with continued cohesiveness, we begin the slow turning of that cargo ship, the Progressive overreach.
Please don’t let perfect be the enemy of possible. This consensus would not mean compromising principles, it would mean understanding that a coalition must be built, conservatives, more moderates, and yes, even Democrats. Twenty years ago, Democrats would have been disgusted with what’s going on now on the Democrat side. Engage them, look for common areas, there are many. I have Democrat friends that have the same fundamental beliefs. They think the government is the solution however, and I think that its basics such as personal accountability, rule of law, shared ethos, and personal freedom. I also believe in standing up to those who believe their right to be offended trumps my constitution guaranteed freedoms.
Am I a RINO? I don’t believe so, but I do believe that you need to look hard at how persuasive your post was to anyone outside that 30% group that throws around the word RINO with great abandon.

@HChambers:

And, if you continue, you will get a Democrat in the White House, you will lose seats in the House, and you will certainly get more of the judges on the Supreme Court bench who will permanently damage this country and its freedoms.

I don’t think that will be the outcome. Just the opposite actually. Look at what happened after the 2013 shutdown. I’ll take my chances.

As for RINOs and a need for “consensus”, strangely, the consensus always seems to end up with the line being drawn on the progressive side of the table. Simply look at the spectrum between anarchy and tyranny. The United States was for a long time inhibited the middle ground between the two. Debate and conversations with progressives has led us to a point where we are far closer to tyranny than our founding fathers would have ever imagined was possible with the Constitution they left us. Before the “consensus” leads us to finally fall into the black hole of tyranny I’d prefer to have a knock down, drag out fight on the merits of freedom. If my side loses, so be it… we’re already losing. But at least it won’t be for lack of fighting for what’s right in the first place…

If you don’t have the numbers of voters (and their representatives), it’s hard to change policy in the direction you’d like to see. If you name call and attack instead of articulating why people should come to your chosen strategy, how likely are you to get the numbers for change? Just saying.
I watched President Reagan as a young officer come in and change the military climate almost overnight. He did much that I approved of, and some policies that were… complex. He spent much of his time finding people he trusted and allowed them to do their jobs. He also pushed back against some of the political advice he was given (going ahead with ‘ear Down That Wall is perhaps the most famous”). But, first and foremost, he communicated the ideals and goals clearly that he believed this nation deserved, and confidence that it’s citizens were up to the task of implementing them. That brought people on board. Was my mortgage interest rate 12.75% with a VA loan? Yep, and that was a great rate back then. Rates are just a bit lower now. He couldn’t solve everything, but he did change the course more rapidly than anyone thought possible. Insults don’t substitute for persuasion.

The power of the idea and persuasion are the means to win an election, to bring more people to your way of thinking as HChambers has described. I’ve served my nation in some dangerous places. Part of job there was to persuade them there was a better way to live. To live as a free people. And, to live as free people, you work together for the common good. You work for your wife, your kids.

The Jim DeMint (Dint) quote you cited, the wording was similar to what the anti-war left said protesting the Vietnam War. They would rather lose the fight for the right cause. I found it rather amusing DeMint, a staunch conservative, would paraphrase a 1960’s anti-war tag line to make his point about the conservative movement.

@HChambers:

Please don’t let perfect be the enemy of possible. This consensus would not mean compromising principles, it would mean understanding that a coalition must be built, conservatives, more moderates, and yes, even Democrats.

I don’t think you quite grasp the situation. The problem is not with Moderates vs. Conservatives, or Moderates & Conservatives Vs traditional Liberalism. Nor is the problem a three way slug-fest between Upper-class, Middle-class and Lower-class. There can be sensible coalition building between all of these.

This is really a battle between the common people of America who do not hold influence and are under-represented (if at all) versus the Progressive-establishment machine, the MSM that supports them, and their Crony-capitalist globalist comrades.

There can be no compromise between ignored and unrepresented peasants and the disdainful elitist tyrants..

@vince:
Vince do you really think that the Dems are not going to win the White House?

In Houston, we just soundly defeated the Mayor’s Equal Rights Ordinance that would have allowed transgenders to shower with women by working alongside minority pastors and their churchgoers.

We also managed to push a sorely needed fiscal conservative into next month’s mayoral run-off election.

Our TEA Party joined with like-minded Republicans, Libertarians, Indies, and Democrats in an unprecedented coalition.

EVERYONE told us it couldn’t be done. Back in 2010, our TEA Party was the first to support Ted Cruz for Senate. We were told it couldn’t be done.

I don’t know if we’ll be successful in all our endeavors, but we’ll either win or go down fighting. #Cruz2016!