Weekend Question 3: Why Is John Boehner Doing an Indefensibe Tom Delay Imitation?
At my suggestion, S.O.B. Alliance member and federal budget subject-matter expert Porkopolis took a look at John Boehner’s latest action in his new job as House Majority Leader.
I was hoping I was wrong, but Porkopolis does not like what he sees, and I have to agree:
The Hill is reporting that House Majority Leader John Boehner is delivering ultimatums to his Republican colleagues ……
….. If this report is accurate, Boehner is picking up where Tom (The Hammer) Delay left off in imposing party discipline over the objections of fiscal conservatives.
Such obedience will just be another nail hammered into the coffin of our ‘Do as we say, not as we do party’ that has lost all claim to fiscal conservatism.
The GOP is Washington has no appreciation of how dangerous their actions are. The danger is not just to their ability retain a majority in November, but to the ability of the country to prevent a slide into French- and German-style stagnation and, as seen recently in both countries (youth marches in France and little-noticed but very harmful public-sector strikes in Germany), social upheaval. With each passing day, that sad scenario becomes more likely, no matter which party is in charge.
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UPDATE: S.O.B. Alliance member NixGuy in the first comment below suggests more patience. Okay, but it’s very limited. Aren’t we on the verge of blowing off doing anything meaningful about budget reform until after the election? If I’m wrong I’ll stand corrected. But, unfortunately, I don’t think I am.
At first blush the Hill article makes it sound like Boehner is heading down path of higher spending, cronyism, etc. But if you read the article you see that Boehner is getting support from John Shadegg and many other conservatives.
I think Boehner is trying to achieve a condition where he can effectively govern the house and slowly work toward reducing or eliminating the pork.
I would certainly love to see the Republican Study Committee proposals get enacted in entirety, but my sense is that if Boehner tried that now, he would effectively lose control of the house. Enough Republicans would defect and side with the Democrats that nothing positive would get done.
A precondition to getting anything done, whether good or bad for conservatives, is effective party discipline. All that we know right now is that Boehner is getting high marks from his colleagues and that it’s way too early to make definitive judgements about whether he was the right choice. We should know within a year. I hope I will be proven right to have supported him.
Comment by dave — April 1, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
I agree with your update. Limited patience is in order, and while Boehner is getting the house in order, he needs to make clear to us that he is headed in a new direction on spending.
Comment by dave — April 1, 2006 @ 7:32 pm