Imagination is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it’s scary.
Imagine, if you will, a U.S. House of Representatives controlled by Republicans.
That’s not really a stretch you might say. We have that right now.
When Democrats can create chaos with the help of only eight out of 222 Republican House members you have to wonder about that.
Only eight Republican votes were cast to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Each of the eight has his own reasons for voting the way he did. I applaud them for standing up for their principles when they knew backlash was coming.
Rep. Bob Good on AFR’s Jenna Ellis In The Morning this week clearly articulated his position on being one of the eight. Spending is out of control. We know that; we see that, but we never see change.
On one hand, I like the idea of Matt Gaetz in there throwing haymakers, but the bigger part of me thinks pragmatism is important.
When Democrats are so bent on making the bizarre a part of daily life it’s hard to give away leverage, and the amendments attached to spending bills coming out of the House are about all the leverage Republicans have right now.
We need that leverage to challenge things we never before imagined, things like boys undressing in girls’ locker rooms, abortion on demand, or driving a car that runs for 250 miles before having to find an electric charging station.
Republicans don’t need a Speaker who blinks
Imagine something else. Picture a Republican Speaker of the House standing before a gaggle of cameras and explaining that pro-transgender amendments were removed in early rounds of budget talks. A Speaker who blinks.
There’s a lot of power in the hands of a few when eight Republicans can team up with Democrats and vacate the Speaker’s chair. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) said earlier this week:
“This is what we have to avoid at all costs. In that scenario a very moderate, swishy, pro-abortion, America Last instead of America First Republican could be installed as the Speaker of the House with the help of the Democrats, and that will set us back in our cause of saving the country. That’s why it’s important that Republicans unify and come together to elect this speaker, not someone who’s going to work with the Democrats to destroy this country.”
Banks has thrown his support firmly behind Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for several reasons but one above all others: “Democrats fear him,” Banks said.
“We need a Speaker of the House who’s going to go into that room with President Biden and Chuck Schumer and be one tough negotiator, and that’s why I really like Jim Jordan for this job. He doesn’t back down. He’s strong, he’s principled. That’s why they’ve literally tried to destroy him over the past several years. They fear Jim Jordan. That’s why I feel he would be the best choice for us,” Banks said.
That’s a scary scenario.
The reason it’s not too hard to imagine is that chaos appears to exist within the Republican Party.
A little chaos isn’t bad and is no doubt necessary to bring about meaningful spending change. Right now the national debt is described with numbers I barely understand. Where else in life do we talk about trillions?
Maybe the chaos among Republicans isn’t as bad as is being reported. It’s not hard to imagine a distorted view from an evening newscast.
But it bothers me to think of Banks’ Doomsday Scenario when I combine it with the belief that a small number of Republicans who brought about McCarthy’s ouster could also refuse to rewrite the rule that allows for one disgruntled member to call to vacate the chair.
Part of the deal struck to finally get McCarthy over the hump and into the chair in January – after 15 rounds of voting – was that very rule.
Will hardliners come around on rule change?
There’s growing support among party moderates to change that rule, but conservative hardliners might be slower to come around, Reuters reported this week.
There have been other names mentioned in the sudden race for House Speaker, one of them Donald Trump. That has some appeal if only for the entertainment value, but the reality is that type of media circus – whether it’s Trump sound bites or Joe Biden going off script in a public appearance or Kamala Harris sharing the meaning of life – is what our nation needs to get away from.
The issues raised by the Group of Eight seem to be more fiscal than social in nature.
Fiscal is important, but it’s only one part of the world we’ll leave to our children and grandchildren.
Republicans need to get this speaker vote right. Maybe Jim Jordan is the answer, maybe it’s someone else.
Whoever it is doesn’t need to go into a meeting with Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer and blink.
I don’t want to imagine the America that comes from that.
