Posted on 11/06/2014 8:50:54 AM PST by sitetest
Five Steps To Restore Trust, Transparency, And Empowerment
After years of frustration and months of feverish work, the Republican Party has finally won back the U.S. Senate, and with it, undivided control of Congress. But no sooner had Tuesday night’s balloon drops hit the floor than Republicans around the country—and especially in certain offices in Washington, DC—faced that timeless question of election-night winners: Now what?
This is never an easy question to answer, given the requisite balancing act between expectations and realities, politics and substance. And answering it could be especially difficult for the leaders of the new Republican Congress, for two additional reasons.
First, there is the still-strained relationship between the GOP’s Washington establishment and its grassroots conservative base. And second, the party establishment and consultant class chose to de-emphasize Republican policy alternatives during the campaign. So despite that strategy’s apparent success Tuesday night, our new majority cannot claim a sweeping legislative mandate.
But this question needs to be answered, nonetheless. And soon.
As a frequent critic of my party’s strategic timidity—and as incoming chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, whose job it is encourage bolder thinking and action—I thought it incumbent on me to offer some concrete, early, and hopefully constructive suggestions about how the new Republican Congress might be steered toward unity and success.
As the reader will see, the ideas below are not really policy goals. (I have my own ideas about what our party’s reform agenda ought to be, and I will spend most of the next two years advocating them.)
Rather, these are five suggestions to my Republican colleagues to help repair the dysfunctional legislative branch we have inherited, rebuild Congress’s reputation among the American people, and by extension slowly restore the public’s confidence in the Republican Party.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
An interesting article about what to do with the new Republican majority.
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1. Balance within ten years (without accounting gimmicks),
sounded ok til this, the Budget is ANNUAL not 10 years, Balanced IMMEDIATELY is the answer because 10 years DOES NOT EXIST.
I think that Sen. Lee might argue that politics is the art of the possible.
Mr. Lee
1. There is absolutely NOTHING that we agree upon with democrats. If the Democrats agree to do anything with Conservatives you can bet it's bad for America.
2. We don't want a FIX for government. We want LESS GOVERNMENT. The fix for broken government is to get rid of it.
3. We don't need or have any desire to reach out to Democrats to find common ground. We want to absolutely FORCE our agenda of limited Government, personal liberty and adherence to the Constitution upon them without any hesitation or apologies whatsoever.
An argument that entails a constant devaluation of monetary units and outright theft of value of existing monetary units of measurement, isn’t much of an argument, it is more like a Slave Contract.
“1. There is absolutely NOTHING that we agree upon with democrats.”
There are any number of “70-30” issues that are likely to garner support from Democrats in Congress. By one count, there are easily seven or more Democrat senators willing to vote against Obama, and for the Keystone XL pipeline. That means - no filibuster. There are any number of provisions of Obamacare for which some numbers of Democrats would be willing to vote.
If all Republicans do for the next two years is send up 54-46 all-Republican-no-Democrat-passed bills to Obama, he will paint us to be partisan obstructionists. And since we can count on the media to go along with that narrative, keeping the Congress AND gaining the presidency becomes a very iffy proposition.
If, on the other hand, we send bunches of bills that have attracted modest levels of Democrat votes, it become much, much harder to suggest that it is the Republicans, and not Obama, who are/is the partisan obstructionist.
“2. We don't want a FIX for government. We want LESS GOVERNMENT. The fix for broken government is to get rid of it.”
In some cases, yes. You'll note that Sen. Lee suggests getting rid of the Ex-Im Bank.
In other cases, maybe not so much. Do you have a problem with trying to fix defense procurement so that we spend our hundreds of billions of dollars and get more bang for our defense buck?
“3. We don't need or have any desire to reach out to Democrats to find common ground.”
There is this thing called the veto. If we just send up Republican-only passed legislation, the public will see us as at least as partisan and obstructionist as it sees the Dems and Obama. See No. 1.
sitetest
Interesting post. What do you think about what Lee says about Ryan?
Good point, and I hadn't much considered Dems voting with Republicans. That being said, this would really be a case where Democrats are agreeing with Republican's not the other way around. While you are correct that some dems might vote with republicans and it still stands true that there is really nothing in the Democrat agenda that Republican's agree upon.
If you have some way to magically:
1. Balance the budget in one year;
2. Not cause serious economic dislocation in the short-term;
3. Actually garner the votes in Congress to do it;
4. Actually get the president to sign the budget legislation or achieve a 2/3 majority in each house of Congress to override his veto;
Then do it.
Heck, if you merely have a way of getting a budget passed that balances in the next fiscal year, and signed into law, damn the consequences, do it.
sitetest
I'm not sure there. I did not really contemplate Lee's comments all that much. I'm just reacting at this point to what appears to me as a softening of our position only two days after the election. Paul Ryan has been Squishy to say the least so that is a bit of a concern.
I would not expect Republican's to come out swinging but don't start lowering expectations before the fight even begins.
There are a number of issues that a number of Democrats have wished to vote on in accord with the Republicans. The pipeline is a very good example. But Reid has absolutely refused to see these topics see the light of day in his Senate.
Mary Landrieu and others have repeatedly stated they would vote for the pipeline, if given the opportunity. And why shouldn't she? She's in a big energy state. How is it to her political advantage to obstruct infrastructure that will bring jobs and dollars indirectly to her state? One might readily make the argument, if not for Harry Reid, Ms. Landrieu would not be in the fix she's currently in, politically.
What folks don't always realize is that Reid not only restricted Republican participation in setting the legislative agenda in the Senate, but restricted DEMOCRAT participation, too! Anyone who disagreed with the leadership (and by extension, the Kenyan anti-Christ) was frozen out of the agenda-setting process.
sitetest
I like the way he thinks.
Conservatives should want to change the government relates to the American people and how it carries out its core mission.
We should eliminate corporate welfare and subsidies for the rich and do more to empower the poor and the middle class.
The Republican Party has become identified with Big Business and the globalist elites. This has disconnected it from ordinary Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table.
Conservatives should stand up for the little guy and demand government be on his side. This has nothing to do with egalitarianism or socialist nonsense. It has to do with simple humanity and looking out for the common welfare. No man is an island entire unto himself.
In the long run, its both good policy and good politics. We want smaller government but also smarter and more accountable government that is closer to the people and does its job.
We need to “think big” and think about future generations and as a futurist, I believe our best days are ahead of us - if we do the right things with humility, restraint and wisdom. Bigger isn’t better, centralized government doesn’t work and everything that is wrong with Washington needs to be fixed.
This is the conservative agenda of the 21st Century. We have no time to waste - we have a future to make things whole again and preserve America as the last, best hope on earth.
I hear you. I’m not much of a fan of Ryan, so I was wondering if my response was overly critical.
My only point is HONESTY, there is NO such thing as a “10 year budget”. that is FANTASY. And this is where I beg to differ, If the GOP actually ran a positive and honest campaign regarding the budget, the PEOPLE would be behind an Instant Balanced Budget, not the Press or President. But then it is on them.
Agreed. But also, didn’t Harry Reid’s party have it such that the minority party couldn’t add amendments to bills? If I understand it correctly, it sounds like Mike Lee is going all in on the time-honored tradition of Republican capitulation, but softening the rules once Democrats are in the minority:
“Members will have to expose themselves to inconvenient amendment votes.”
He’s already out of touch if he’s bought in on the old GOPe canard that voters are upset with ungentlemanly parliamentary procedure in Congress and want the GOP to be nicer to the Dems than the Dems ever have been or will be to the GOP.
Sigh.
but softening the rules once Democrats are in the minority:McConnell said on Election Day he was in favor of changing the filibuster rules back to the way they were to make sure the Demonrats had the just power they deserve.
They really are just one big team. Conservatives just get stuck with rooting for the Washington Generals half of the road show.
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