Publisher’s Positions
Congressional Republicans Need To Stick Together
The recent balloting for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives should serve as a lesson for Republicans. Congressmen Thomas Massie, Keith Self of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina were holdouts imperiling Mike Johnson’s reelection as speaker. Massie is a libertarian and has some weird agenda of his own and might as well be a party of one. Self and Norman indicated they were sending a message to Speaker Johnson. Wisely, Congresswoman Nancy Mace pulled out her cell phone and dialed President-elect Donald Trump who was on the speakerphone and proceeded to let Self and Norman have it from press accounts. Republicans need to learn the lesson of how to stick together through thick or thin.
While the issue of spending should be a critical concern for every American citizen, congressmen can vote as they believe their constituents would wish them to on spending bills and remain solid members of their party. People have differences, represent different states with differing issues, but electing the presiding officer of the House of Representatives is one issue where every Republican should be behind the nominee of the party.
Republican speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives seem to become the victims of their own party, not the Democrats. The Democrats enjoy a united caucus that sticks together come hell or high water. Of course, Democrats tolerate little or no dissent from the party line. For instance, Democrats opposed to abortion, once a large number of their caucus, are as rare as dodo birds because they lost primaries and were thinned out of existence. To oppose Democratic orthodoxy in any respect is to risk political extinction. While there aren’t many Democrats outside the urban areas populating the halls of Congress, they all back Hakeem Jeffries, a New York City Democrat as liberal as they come. It is hard to imagine any Democrat not representing an urban area backing Hakeem Jeffries for speaker of the House, especially those who happen to represent a more rural or agricultural district, those too are rare but they do exist. There are some like Jared Golden who represents a largely rural district in Maine. A former Marine who fashions himself as a centrist who has fashioned himself as a “Blue Dog” Democrat, yet he votes for Hakeem Jeffries for speaker. Golden’s vote puts Democrats like Adam Schiff into the chairs of powerful House committees. Hakeem Jeffries and Adam Schiff have little or nothing in common with most of the people in Maine’s Second District. Their caucus doesn’t ever have a speck of a splinter while the Republicans in the House run around like a hundred feral cats let out of a bag at once.
Chip Roy, who seems to accomplish little aside from being on TV every day of the week, wanted to hold out so that he could apparently get Mike Johnson’s support to chair the powerful House Rules Committee, which would still be a terrible idea in a galaxy full of terrible ideas. Chip Roy is the My Little Pony of congressional show horses and would probably die from the exertion if he had to pull a plow in the House to get something across the finish line.
I will readily admit there is a faction inside the Republican Party who confuse talking with getting things done. A caucus doesn’t function if people are only part of it some of the time, or when it suits them. Republicans who don’t want to be part of the caucus need to run as something else.
The Republicans need to follow the example of the Democrats and once a majority of the members have selected their nominee to be the speaker, that is who every Republican votes for on the floor. Creating a spectacle to get media attention might serve some agenda for the congressman in question, but it doesn’t give the public much confidence they can govern.
The American people gave both houses of Congress to the Republicans and reelected Donald Trump as president of the United States. They want CHANGE. It’s time to get moving and get some things done. Individualists can propose and fight for their own ideas and beliefs inside their party, but they need to support their party and its nominees, otherwise they need to run under a different label.
Biden Devalues Medal Of Freedom
Feckless, an adjective that means “lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.” Now to use the word, Joe Biden remains feckless to the end of his time in the White House. Bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award any American citizen can receive, to George Soros is a slap in the face to every victim of crime in this country. One can debate Biden’s giving Hillary Clinton the same honor, but the next thing he’s likely to hand her is a pardon and as the original election denier she deserves neither. There are few Americans left who believe Joe Biden is a well-meaning old man.
It Matters Who You Vote For
God help the people of California. Unfortunately, Los Angeles, the heart of the People’s Republic of California is burning to the ground. At this writing, the mayor of Los Angeles is in Africa while the worst fire in Los Angeles’ history rages on. Los Angeles firefighters are finding there is no water in the hydrants. President-elect Trump has pointed out Governor Gavin Newsome, that knight of the Blue State and would-be-president, refused to sign the water restoration declaration, which would have provided Southern California with millions of gallons of water from melting snow and rain from the northern part of the states. That would have helped farmers, grown food for hungry folks, provided an income for others, and helped stave off the apocalyptic cataclysm of fire currently ravaging Los Angeles.
Trump noted Newsome had some idea of saving a worthless fish called a smelt by giving it less water. Now southern California has much less water. Good thinking, Gavin.
