The general theory — that Republicans should get budget fights out of the way to “show they can govern” — is bad: A “governing” agenda would probably involve bipartisan business priorities, not the conservative ideas Republicans need; the president and Democrats can undercut it anyway as easily as you can say “veto” and “filibuster,” etc.
The specific consequences of a long-term budget deal are even worse. It would surrender all leverage Republicans have with government funding. That is a tool Republican leadership is reluctant to use, but a Republican House and Senate don’t need to wield the threat of defunding the entire government. Using the normal appropriations process, with bills the House has already drafted, they can attach riders regarding, say, prosecution of illegal immigrants to Homeland Security funding, or power-plant regulations to EPA funding. The prudence of these options will vary, but at least some of them should be able to put the president in a tough spot.
That can’t be done if Congress passes a long-term budget. A long-term budget that the Democratic Senate helps approve also won’t reflect the kind of conservative fiscal priorities that the president might be coaxed into: more defense spending, for instance, or an end to certain corporate tax credits.
Memo to Pubs: You're not there to craft some kind of amorphous Beltway mush. We've sent you there to wage effective war on the enemy.
Not another war? We haven't won a real or metaphorical war in yet in our lifetime. Why not look to the Oath of Office for direction? The rest of what they do is called debating and voting in line with the understood will of their constituencies. Sure miss our Indiana Congressmen who used to garner international notice. One was a casualty of some sort of War declared by some Tea Party.
ReplyDeleteOath of Office
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Early examples of war as metaphor in US political discourse include J. Edgar Hoover's "war on crime" in the 1930s. Various conflicts and demographic trends in US history have been described as a culture war. In Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson describe Jimmy Carter's application of "war" as metaphor for the energy crisis of 1974. Other high-profile examples include the War on Poverty, War on Cancer, War on Drugs, War on Gangs, War on Women, and the War on Christmas.
ReplyDeletePresident George W. Bush coined the phrase "War on Terrorism" (or "War on Terror") after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Read more at wiki
But I presume your ilk places Democrats in the domestic enemy category. And I know you detest statecraft with the enemy.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently taking the Hillsdale College online course The Constitution and The Presidency, and this week's lecture is about that very thing: 20th century presidents concocting "wars" in which the enemy is not an entity comprised of people, but rather some condition such as poverty.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't mean this at all figuratively. The Democrat party is the enemy of the United States, every bit as much as Iran, North Korea, ISIS or al-Qaeda. The only way to relate to a Democrat is to defeat him or her. Ever.
That attitudr just raises hackles and turns both sides into jackals.
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