A lot of people come to Washington because they want to make things happen … solve problems, serve the people, and save the world… but then they learn Washington’s first rule:
It’s a lot easier to stop stuff than it is to make things happen.
So SLOG, SLOG, SLOG … the self-named Freedom Caucus still cries about Donald Trump’s fair and square loss of the 2020 election — oh, poor them! The “Freedom” members still cry about not having enough votes to stop Kevin McCarthy from winning his Majority Leader election on the 15th try.
Now, the crybabies are at it again. Waving the imaginary “Freedom” flags they use whenever they don’t get their way, the “Freedom” crybabies are again strutting their stuff. Following the rule — easier to stop stuff than to make things happen, they stopped stuff, forcing Speaker McCarthy to cancel votes for the week.
Their action began on Tuesday when eleven Republicans voted against a Republican-supported rule. Their NO votes prevented action on four Republican priorities, i.e., the Republican conservatives voting NO targeted their own party. The poor dear “Freedom” crybabies are mad because President Biden’s and Speaker McCarthy’s carefully negotiated bi-partisan vote to raise the debt ceiling didn’t give these “Freedom” crybabies everything they wanted, so eleven Republicans voted against the Republican agenda. They stopped stuff.
Hmmmn. After getting exactly nowhere again on the second day, McCarthy and his team tried negotiating with a few of the crybabies. That strategy did not work, and McCarthy found himself responding, “If I would shy away from this, I wouldn’t want to do this job. I enjoy this work. I enjoy this job. I enjoy this conflict.” (The Hill)
HA HA. Wanna bet McCarthy was “enjoying” himself?
There was even an admission of play-acting: “You got a lot of people mad at us,” said “Freedom” conservative Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), shrugging off the frustration. “I mean, [the bill] is gonna sit in the Senate. We’re not holding up anything. We delayed a vote. It’s not like this is gonna release the missiles to protect Americans.”
The gaggle of eleven votes grew to 15. The 15 included Marjorie Taylor Green, who was supposed to be an ally of McCarthy’s. With friends like that, McCarthy’s Speakership is once again in danger.
Other Republicans were angry at the eleven — now 15, who never learned to play nice. Time magazine reported, “Other Republicans could barely contain contempt for intransigent colleagues.
“We cannot let the terrorists win,” Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas said, lambasting the nearly two dozen McCarthy defectors for creating such a spectacle without concrete goals for what they wanted to get out of negotiations. “Behind closed doors, tell us what you want, or shut the f–k up.” (Politico)
We could call this KINDERGARTEN. In kindergarten, kids have to learn to share their power. Clearly, the Republican crybabies were passed along; they have not learned to share … anything!
We could call this a MATH PROBLEM. Republicans hold 222 seats (50.6%), and Democrats have 213 seats (47.8%) in the House, so a mere five can change the power from Republican majority to Democratic majority. But for this MATH problem, the Republican conservative crybabies can hold the whole House hostage.
But whether a MATH or KINDERGARTEN problem, the most serious question is what do the “Freedom” crybaby hostage takers actually want? They didn’t even have a list when they met with McCarthy on Wednesday. Again, it’s easier to stop stuff than to start stuff. What’s hard is to make things happen that help constituents or make the world safer.
Each of these crybaby Republicans is paid $174,000 a year. The group of 15 who don’t know what they want but are still mad about everything is costing $2,610,000. If five more join the group, the cost goes up to $3,480,000
$2,610,000. minimum, and their only agenda is to say NO and embarrass Speaker McCarthy. Not once has even one of them made a list of what their constituents need.