The Republican 'Freedom Caucus' Is Un-American

[homersapien 11,353]

http://www.huffingto..._b_8211256.html

The Republican 'Freedom Caucus' Is Un-American

Richard Brodsky

There's a stunning unreality to the right-wing attack on John Boehner as insufficiently conservative. On issues like economic policy, abortion, guns, Obamacare, gay marriage, immigration, you-name-it Boehner is in perfect right-wing harmony with the most reactionary of his Members. Indeed, the entire Republican House Majority is in lock-step about everything. The Republican Party has purged itself of ideological dispute. It is a single, hard-right voice.

Then what happened to Boehner? To answer that you need to read your Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Federalist Paper Number 10: "some of the distresses under which we labor have been erroneously charged on the operation of our Governments;...[rather the] increasing distrust of public engagements [are the] effects of...a factious spirit [which] has tainted our public administrations. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning Government; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for preëminence and power...have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other, than to coöperate for their common good."

The danger, sayeth the Founders, is not disagreement on policy, it is factions unwilling to cooperate. So it is with the House Republicans and the "Freedom Caucus" which drove Boehner out of the Speaker's chair. These folks are entitled to their policy views. The real question is whether they will be able to shut down the government because they haven't sufficient votes to enact them through democratic means.

...Be it Planned Parenthood or immigration or Obamacare the central objection to Boehner from the Freedom Caucus is that he compromised, and was insufficiently militant. Boehner's response is to point to the undeniable fact that the Senate has insufficient votes to adopt the Freedom Caucus agenda, the President will veto and the override votes aren't there in either house. No matter says the Freedom Caucus. We must shut down the government if that is what it takes to get our way.

Again, this isn't a policy dispute. It's about tactics. I spent close to thirty years in a legislative body, and I will tell you that American democracy is not designed for speed, efficiency or clear-cut wins. It is about the development of consensus and compromise. The Founders produced a Constitution that carefully separates power and makes it harder to function. The Speaker of the House is not a Prime Minister, not a dictator. To govern otherwise is un-American.

You would think that the Freedom Caucus would be willing to put things to a vote of the whole Congress. No. They do not accept the notion of bi-partisan majorities governing. Their policies must become law, their leaders and the views of the majority be damned.

There is more at stake for all of us than the name and ideology of the next Speaker. There is a struggle for the soul of American democracy. We are being required to re-examine our basic commitment to constitutional government. We are deciding whether a faction, numbering less than 40 of 535 elected representatives, can do to the Constitution what civil war, economic collapse, and enormous social change was never able to do: Undo the basic understanding of how we govern ourselves.

Madison and Hamilton knew what they were talking about, and knew that faction and democracy cannot co-exist. The responsibility for sorting this out now falls on a Republican Party that seems not to know itself or the country, either in Congress or in the battle for the Presidential nomination. There is no reason to believe that things will come out well.

Be it Planned Parenthood or immigration or Obamacare the central objection to Boehner from the Freedom Caucus is that he compromised, and was insufficiently militant. Boehner's response is to point to the undeniable fact that the Senate has insufficient votes to adopt the Freedom Caucus agenda, the President will veto and the override votes aren't there in either house. No matter says the Freedom Caucus. We must shut down the government if that is what it takes to get our way.

Again, this isn't a policy dispute. It's about tactics. I spent close to thirty years in a legislative body, and I will tell you that American democracy is not designed for speed, efficiency or clear-cut wins. It is about the development of consensus and compromise. The Founders produced a Constitution that carefully separates power and makes it harder to function. The Speaker of the House is not a Prime Minister, not a dictator. To govern otherwise is un-American.

You would think that the Freedom Caucus would be willing to put things to a vote of the whole Congress. No. They do not accept the notion of bi-partisan majorities governing. Their policies must become law, their leaders and the views of the majority be damned.

There is more at stake for all of us than the name and ideology of the next Speaker. There is a struggle for the soul of American democracy. We are being required to re-examine our basic commitment to constitutional government. We are deciding whether a faction, numbering less than 40 of 535 elected representatives, can do to the Constitution what civil war, economic collapse, and enormous social change was never able to do: Undo the basic understanding of how we govern ourselves.

Madison and Hamilton knew what they were talking about, and knew that faction and democracy cannot co-exist. The responsibility for sorting this out now falls on a Republican Party that seems not to know itself or the country, either in Congress or in the battle for the Presidential nomination. There is no reason to believe that things will come out well.

http://www.huffingto..._b_8211256.html

[cooltigger21 0]

Yada Yada Yada. Unless Republicans cave and give Democrats what they want, they're being obstructionist.

[AUDub 11,131]

To pile on:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-rep-the-crazies-have-taken-over-the-party?cid=sm_fb_msnbc

Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is leaving on his own terms, at least insofar as the timing is concerned. The Republican leader faced the likelihood of an attempted coup – whether or not the rebellion would have succeeded is an open question – but by quitting, Boehner finally has some agency over how his career ends, if nothing else.

But there’s no denying the fact that his hand was forced. No one has suggested, and few would believe, that Boehner started this Congress with the intention of resigning mid-way through the term. There were likely multiple factors that contributed to his surprise decision, but were it not for his far-right flank – its obstinacy, its contempt for compromise, its insatiable appetite for confrontation, its ambitions for tearing him down – Boehner would very likely have held onto his Speaker’s gavel through January 2017.

Given this, Rep. Peter King’s (R-N.Y.) assessment seems more than fair.

The abrupt resignation of House Speaker John Boehner shows that “the crazies have taken over the party,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Friday.

“I think it signals the crazies have taken over the party, taken over to the party that you can remove a speaker of the House who’s second in line to be president, a constitutional officer in the middle of his term with no allegations of impropriety, a person who’s honest and doing his job. This has never happened before in our country,” King said in an interview on CNN. “He could have stayed on.”

In a separate interview, King added that at “every stage” of his tenure as Speaker, Boehner “was undercut by people in his own party. And there’s 40 or 50 and that’s it. A small minority, but they were willing to hijack and blackmail the party.”

Those same “crazies,” as King called them, are hardly satisfied.

A co-founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus has a warning for any Republican hoping to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio): No one will get the promotion without our blessing.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), a sharp critic of Boehner, said Friday that there are roughly 40 members of the group – and another 20 conservatives outside of it – who won’t back any new Speaker who fails their litmus test for conservative purity. And the group’s leadership endorsements, he warned, will be “a collective, corporate decision.”

Huelskamp added, while talking to The Hill, “We have enough votes in the House Freedom Caucus to prevent anybody from being Speaker. We will be a voting bloc.”

The Freedom Caucus has even begun “pushing to slow down” the process of choosing a new Speaker, “hoping to force a broader shake-up in House Republican leadership as the party tries to move forward.”

It’s still not altogether clear Freedom Caucus members understand how Congress works – they certainly didn’t understand the limits Boehner faced as Speaker – but their antics serve as a reminder of the drama yet to come.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

[AUDub 11,131]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend.

[AUDub 11,131]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend. ;)/>

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

[JoeBags7277 734]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Citing Peter King as an authority on the GOP is akin to citing Eric Ramsey as an authority on Auburn.

[homersapien 11,353]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend. ;)/>

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

Heck, they just ran Boehner off!

[homersapien 11,353]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Citing Peter King as an authority on the GOP is akin to citing Eric Ramsey as an authority on Auburn.

Forget his resume. What about his words?

[AFTiger 282]

The entire Democrat Party is un-American.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend. ;)/>

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

I'm sure they do....I never stated I was one of the RINO name callers. You did.......

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend. ;)/>

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

Heck, they just ran Boehner off!

Boehner had decided to leave already. If Cantor had won his seat last year he was going to step down anyway. But yes, I'm sure they helped push him out. I thought he was "ok" as a Speaker.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

Being so partisan, that you no longer respect democracy, is un-American.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

The entire Democrat Party is un-American.

Yea. We is good. They is bad. You dont need no history book to tell that one.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Being so partisan, that you no longer respect democracy, is un-American.

Truly! That's why I support Kasich....but I like to call out partisanship when I see it....which is about 98% of this forum. Democrats and Republicans deserve a gut punch for what they have done to this country over the last half century.

[AUDub 11,131]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend.

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

I'm sure they do....I never stated I was one of the RINO name callers. You did.......

Come again?

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend.

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

I'm sure they do....I never stated I was one of the RINO name callers. You did.......

Come again?

Did I misread your response by using my support of Kasich as a way to make me sound like a hypocrite? Maybe I did....but it looks that way.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

Being so partisan, that you no longer respect democracy, is un-American.

Truly! That's why I support Kasich....but I like to call out partisanship when I see it....which is about 98% of this forum. Democrats and Republicans deserve a gut punch for what they have done to this country over the last half century.

But I cannot criticize my own party. I want us to win. History proves we have never been wrong. History proves how evil those other people are. The only reason for the problems in this country are the_____________________s.

I MUST be blindly and unconditionally loyal to my party. I will NOT support my country and democracy unless, my country supports only the policies of my party.

Why can't everyone see the perfection of my party, my ideology?

How can people not see how evil those other people are?

Why doesn't everyone live in my echo chamber and, think just like me?

Dialogue and compromise are dumb. Partisanship is more important than honesty and integrity. Thank God, we never lie. Thank God my side is righteous and virtuous.

We must suspend democracy in order to save our country from the _________________________s. They will surely destroy us. They are our enemy.

[TitanTiger 20,471]

Let's not act as if this is a tactic that only hard-line "unAmerican" right wingers employ.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-democrats-shutdown-strategy-1434064048

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/25/here-is-every-previous-government-shutdown-why-they-happened-and-how-they-ended/

Gov. Cuomo is even urging the NY state legislature to shut it down over gun control measures right now:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cuomo-urges-dems-shut-government-gun-control-law-article-1.2375628

That's not to say that I agree with the tactic. I just take exception to the notion suddenly NOW it's a concern and so wrong and unAmerican, but flip the majorities or change the issue at hand and it suddenly becomes completely reasonable to the same group of people squalling now.

[AUUSN 823]

Being so partisan, that you no longer respect democracy, is un-American.

Truly! That's why I support Kasich....but I like to call out partisanship when I see it....which is about 98% of this forum. Democrats and Republicans deserve a gut punch for what they have done to this country over the last half century.

But I cannot criticize my own party. I want us to win. History proves we have never been wrong. History proves how evil those other people are. The only reason for the problems in this country are the_____________________s.

I MUST be blindly and unconditionally loyal to my party. I will NOT support my country and democracy unless, my country supports only the policies of my party.

Why can't everyone see the perfection of my party, my ideology?

How can people not see how evil those other people are?

Why doesn't everyone live in my echo chamber and, think just like me?

Dialogue and compromise are dumb. Partisanship is more important than honesty and integrity. Thank God, we never lie. Thank God my side is righteous and virtuous.

We must suspend democracy in order to save our country from the _________________________s. They will surely destroy us. They are our enemy.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

Why can we not simply embrace compromise, mutual respect, the love of democracy, and thinking for ourselves? Why can we not be more American than partisan?

How did we get to the point that we are no longer willing to recognize the imperfections of our own party/ideology and, come to believe in the pure evil of the political opposition? Does anyone own a history book? Anyone?

The magnitude of the arrogance and ignorance is simply to great to even contemplate.

Please, return to your respective echo chambers so that you may resume your education indoctrination.

[AUDub 11,131]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend. ;)/>

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

I'm sure they do....I never stated I was one of the RINO name callers. You did.......

Come again?

Did I misread your response by using my support of Kasich as a way to make me sound like a hypocrite? Maybe I did....but it looks that way.

You did. I was just pointing out the fact that your guy isn't immune from the wingnuts either.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let's see....huff po (liberal bias) and MSNBC (liberal worshippers) provide insight on a GOP caucus.......

Shocking. Lol

Yeah. Ignore the fact that MSNBC was quoting Peter King directly.

Peter King is a Rhino in the eyes of a lot of GOPers. I'm just stating the obvious here. I could care less about the lot of them but I never see you guys call out Democrats so I'm just pointing out the trend. ;)/>

A lot of those same idiots consider Kasich a RINO, and I know you're a fan of his.

I'm sure they do....I never stated I was one of the RINO name callers. You did.......

Come again?

Did I misread your response by using my support of Kasich as a way to make me sound like a hypocrite? Maybe I did....but it looks that way.

You did. I was just pointing out the fact that your guy isn't immune from the wingnuts either.

Oh I know he is! I welcome it!!! Kasich would do a great job as President (I believe).

[homersapien 11,353]

Let's not act as if this is a tactic that only hard-line "unAmerican" right wingers employ.

http://www.wsj.com/a...tegy-1434064048

http://www.washingto...how-they-ended/

Gov. Cuomo is even urging the NY state legislature to shut it down over gun control measures right now:

http://www.nydailyne...ticle-1.2375628

That's not to say that I agree with the tactic. I just take exception to the notion suddenly NOW it's a concern and so wrong and unAmerican, but flip the majorities or change the issue at hand and it suddenly becomes completely reasonable to the same group of people squalling now.

It's a concern NOW because it's a threat now - or at least before the end of the year.

And I am sure you can find examples of egregious examples of Democratic manipulating the system. Roosevelt tried to pack the court for example. But this crap of shutting down the government simply because you can't exert your will constitutionally is new.

If we are just going to ignore the constitution and resort to extortion when you don't have the votes, what's next - civil war?