It’s easier to run for office than to run the office
– Tip O’Neill
A person with more self-respect than Kevin McCarthy might have walked away from the humiliating 15 elections necessary for him to be Speaker of The House. Not Kevin.
Each day pieces of the puzzle of deals he cut to earn a job (not worth having per the two previous Republican speakers) get revealed. Saying really dumb things, repeatedly, cost Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R – GA) her committee assignments…in the past. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R – FL) never answered, under oath, about those middle school girls at the party: he’s bought at least a subcommittee chair. New Rep. George Santos (R- NY)? Well, local newspapers can do great reporting on fraud and financial shenanigans that get widely publicized by nation media: it doesn’t matter, George still got his seat in the 118th Congress.
Now Kevin herds the House – and the nation — through miles of mine fields. Expect explosions.
Get used to it: this is their time.
In politics the rationale always gives way to the expedient. Defaulting on America’s debt would be very bad. Today I heard a former securities trader promise an instant recession if debt payments stop. Even Mitch McConnell doesn’t want that.
Still, expect the bomb throwers Kevin McCarthy appeased to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. If he stands up to them…oh, don’t worry about it, won’t happen.
What, you expect a public outcry over a Republican failure to govern?
Think now of Missouri, a state once soundly dedicated to good schools, good government and the American way of life…until it wasn’t.
Remember Mel Hancock? He crusaded against “bloated” and overreaching state government which, immorally, took more money than was needed from good, honest Christian Missourians. Voters – especially in rural Missouri – supported 1980’s Hancock Amendment which forced the state to send refund checks to some taxpaying citizens, permanently reduced wasteful spending on schools and other nonsense, and, more importantly, cemented the notion that ‘taxes are always too high’ into the Missouri Capitol.
A generation later Missouri state employees may still be (despite a recent raise) the worst paid among the 50 state staffs. Some state jobs have 300% annual turnover. Roads crumble. Schools beg for help.
The legislature’s response? Worry about the dress code for female legislators.
As Scripture notes, not one person worth saving could be found in Sodom and Gomorrah. Might there be rationale, moral legislators within Missouri’s Republican supermajority? Perhaps. But they won’t stop the party. The Missouri GOP has convinced voters that things are great – and taxes are still too high. To be a Republican office holder in Missouri means embracing the unreal as truth.
Yes, in a couple of years the nation may tire of Republican antics and bring back a Democrat majority to the U. S. House. Or, as happens here, the GOP may increase their hold on government. It may long be their time.
Glenn Koenen