Robert Tracinski is a senior writer at The Federalist. The publication often presents divergent views by its stable of conservative writers. We observe that most of its writers are consistent conservatives — pro-life, second amendment, smaller government, frustrated by Republican leadership, etc. Issues related to immigration and traditional marriage seem to be the matters of most divergence from current conservative thought. The merits of Donald Trump is also controversial among their contributors.
Tracinski is one who defends birth citizenship and seems appalled by conservatives opposed to immigration amnesty. He is also appalled by Donald Trump and those who even see merit in his candidacy. We have not reviewed previous posts of his about the general performance of Republican leadership and holding fast on matters of principle but we suspect this commentary may be an effort to recognize the power of Trump’s (and others) appeal to those fed up with the Republican establishment. Regardless of whether this is an oblique acknowledgement of Trump’s merits, and the message that the current success of his candidacy sends, we appreciate the sentiment expressed here for what he aptly terms:
The Real House Leadership Crisis (excerpts bold emphasis ours)
So long as Obama and the Democrats can use a government shutdown as a credible threat, they neutralize House Republicans’ power of the purse. And so long as that’s the case, the House GOP can’t do anything substantial. They’re reduced to pleading, “We can’t do anything until we have the Senate,” and then, “We can’t do anything until we have the presidency.” And eventually the Republican base and the Tea Party types get fed up and conclude that Republican leaders never really wanted to do anything in the first place, that they’re just marking time before they can go to K Street or Wall Street and cash out. (Which is partly correct.)
The House GOP needed to find a good opportunity to go to the matt on the government shutdown and force Democrats to compromise. If they had done that, they could have used budget negotiations to get at least some of what the base wanted, instead of caving in all the time. Then they wouldn’t be facing the current revolt against the leadership.
What this implies is that there is really only one issue in the House leadership fight. Republicans need a new Speaker who is going to force a shutdown until Democrats blink.
The House needs to seize back the power of the purse, both for the good of the Republican Party and for the good of the republic. When you think about it that way, the only real shutdown crisis is that we’re not having one.
This is what we have been advocating — encouraging support of Republicans in Congress to be aggressive in protection of our nation’s liberties using the power of the purse, to not fund the Obamanation, to not constantly give ground, to establish the brand of constitutional republican government. We added the following to Tracinski’s article at The Federalist to point out a necessary element to the solution to the leadership crisis he correctly identifies:
You underestimate the Republican establishment’s devotion to failure theater. Republicans, even if they win the presidency in 2016 will not likely win a filibuster-proof Senate (requires a six state pick-up). So under McConnell with his devotion to the filibuster i.e. “regular order” – you can hear their phony lament already — nothing can get done until you give us that margin in the Senate. McConnell must go and be replaced with a leader devoted to saving the republic.
