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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

The Illusion With America

Repeat after me: I vote GOP. I do not carry their water.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 22nd, 2010 at 10:23 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The House Republicans are set to unveil the Contract with America Part II, which we already know based on history will be more an illusion than substance. We also know, based on early word about what is in there, that it will be an unmitigated spectacle of wasted opportunity. There will be good points we will all love. But what will be missing will make it a wasted exercise by a party that still shows little sign of getting exactly why it lost power in 2006.

One of the best examples of how terrible this thing will be is the lack of an earmarks ban. It’s not sexy, but cutting off the gateway drug to big government in critically important. Earmarks have been used by the leadership of both parties to pass every bad piece of legislation in the last several years.

Right now, the House GOP has a conference rule prohibiting earmarks. The Democrats have no such rule. That the GOP is not willing to extend the ban across the aisle via House Rules is a clear sign they really just don’t get it.

While the Illusion with America will surely defund Obamacare and rein in the regulatory zeal of the Obama administration, I hear it will do nothing about already enacted regulations, will have very little in it relating to a pro-family agenda, and most troubling it will most definitely not rein in the federal government itself.

That last bit, which relates directly to earmarks, is the most disturbing. The government should secure our borders. The government shouldn’t be funding abortions. The government shouldn’t be pushing Obamacare. Putting these in Contract 2: Back to Power are such no-brainer issues, you can hardly call them bold or exciting. Republicans have been campaigning on these for a year now. But there are major other areas the government should not be involved in.

Without, at minimum, an earmarks ban and a repeal of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, we are left asking one question: where the hell is the check on government itself, including on a Republican Party whose last foray into the majority saw a number of them hauled off to jail in scandals largely related to earmarks and spending?

In Forbes Magazine in the November 13, 2000, edition, Ed Crane, the head of CATO, penned a column entitled “GOP Pussycats”, noting

Over the past three years the Republican-controlled Congress has approved discretionary spending that exceeded Bill Clinton’s requests by more than $30 billion. The party that in 1994 would abolish the Department of Education now brags in response to Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union Address that it is outspending the White House when it comes to education. My colleagues Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski found that the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract with America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%. [Emphasis added]

We know from history that the GOP became everything they campaigned against.

We know from history that if the GOP cannot now, during the campaign season, promise to get rid of earmarks, the GOP will never do so once back in power.

We know the GOP is better than the Democrats. We know the GOP will fight to defund Obamacare. But we also know that the Democrats were willing to lose everything to nationalize healthcare and the GOP is so scared of ever doing anything to lose power they’d rather trade permanent policy victories for politics as usual with them in charge.

It is all an illusion.

The tea party movement exists because a great deal of the nation sees government as too much in our lives. It doesn’t do well what it should do and does too much more than it should. I highly doubt the Republicans will be willing to take a stand against government in general — just Barack Obama’s government.

That is not enough. It is not in tune with the American people’s concerns. I guarantee you we will all like solid bits of this great Illusion. We can expect little of it to pass the Senate. The one thing the House GOP could do on it own would be a rule prohibiting earmarks. That will be a bridge too far for them.

In our zeal to take back the House and help our team, let’s not expect too much.

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COMMENTS

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  • mark1957

    we need to cut the budget of EVERY government agency by 25% , and eliminate some departments all together.

    “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!” …Ronald Reagan

  • glorious

    I completely agree. So what do we do?

  • asleep06

    We need to understand that we’ll only succeed through dragging the GOP, kicking and screaming, to conservatism over the next decades, not just this election cycle.

    We need to be in it over the long haul because God knows that’s the only way the GOP will ever do what it is supposed to do. Let’s settle into it!

  • GCBWI

    We need to demand of the candidates elected this November that they pay attention to what their constituents want. We need to make those demands in as loud and as insistent a voice as we have been objecting to Obama’s agenda.

    And we need to demonstrate to the people elected this November that if they fail us, they will be out on their….ears in the next election.

  • The Moat

    1. Regarding regulatory restraint — One of the values of a document like this is that it identifies the party’s principles for the voting (and non-voting) population. Getting deep into the details may be good for policy, but it makes for bad politics. Better to stake out the broad principles than get hung up on laying out so much detail that both legislators and voters experience a forest/trees problem.

    This applies equally to every other area where you feel the document may be lacking in either scope or depth. KISS. The simpler, more elegant the document, the more effective it will be. The longer and more detailed it becomes, the more it will look like politics as usual.

    2. Regarding earmark bans — In many respects, the past few elections (2006, 2008, 2010) have been something of a referendum on the perceived party in power. As the incumbent party, defending your majority has meant hyping your own accomplishments, as the minority party often has little to no record to attack. How can you criticize policies that haven’t been given a chance to fail?

    While this narrative plays to the advantage of the Republicans in 2010, it may work against them come 2012 when they try to defend their majority in the house.

    By limiting the earmark ban to their own party, Republicans are trying to give the Democrats enough rope to hang themselves. They may win the house in 2010 based on a slogan of “We’re ont Democrats!”, but they’ll have to do a better job of distinguishing the two parties come 2012. With this limited earmark bank in place, a comparison of proposed earmarks during the 112th Congress should accomplish precisely that.

  • The Moat

    The more items there are on the list, the greater likelihood there is that some of them will not be accomplished. I’d rather see the party accomplish 10 of 10 goals than 12 of 20.

    Keep the goals attainable; yet another argument for keeping the document simple and limited.

  • calgacus

    any Republican congressman that doesn’t ride to the guns needs to be taken on in the primary and defeated. If Boehner doesn’t cut the government, secure the border, and end earmarks, he needs to be defeated in the primary.

    I do not trust the “Young Guns” one bit. In 2012 we need to defeat some incumbent Republican senators in the primary- I’m thinking about Dick Lugar and Orrin Hatch in particular.

  • Wubbies World

    This only goes to show that the establishment is still running things, and until their hold on power is broken (IE kicked out of government at the ballot box) things will not change. Every one of these sorry ruling class (unpleasant name deleted) need to go.

    That is specific to Establishment Republicans in my intent.

  • dariencrow

    Earmark spending is like smoking and it will be hard for them to give it up. I know from experience because I smoke.

    If they don’t quit it will kill the country. I think they need a strong intervention.

    Obama said with a straight face that he was so proud of the stimulis because it contained “no earmarks”. I just could not stop laughing at this guy because the whole moster of a bill was nothing but a huge earmark. Kinda hard to to stick a midnight earmark into your earmark.

    None the less… things will remain the same if there are not serious changes made and earmarks are a great place to start.

  • chbroussard

    While Hannity has been pushing for a new Contract with America put in writing that he wants Republicans to sign, I have been almost cringing at the thought. Been there, done that. It is no longer good enough to say WHAT they’re going to do. They have to actually DO it. And so far, Republicans don’t have a very good track record. Being against open borders and Obamacare, etc. is a no brainer.

    I fear all this “contract” is going to do is leave me asking the question….Where’s the beef?

  • http://www.800cart.com Ron Robinson

    …is to listen to Coldwarrior.

    I took his words to heart and got elected to my county GOP central committee. Like elsewhere in the country, about half the seats on the committee are vacant.

    This is a walk-in opportunity for us to take back our party.

    Yes, the politics on the committee are unsavory. Would we be pristine slaves, unsullied by dirty politics while enslaved by Democratic/moderate Republican policies? Gosh – we could engage in the same smug superiority that Obama does with clean hands and cowering hearts.

    Or we can get a little dirty and fix this mess.

  • Praying

    Shouldn’t the Heritage Foundation or CATO be writing the Contract With America Part II? I mean, the Democrats outsource their major bills and policies to the Center for American Progress and the Apollo Alliance. Why do we think the GOP senators and representatives are actually smart enough to do this on their own???

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    is what is appalling. Earmarks are a TINY part of the budget and can be used to get Dems to vote for GOOD conservative legislation.

    Any contract that doesn’t demand repeal of ObamaCare, reduction of the Dept of Education that the stimulus (government-growthulus) doubled, ends the oil moratorium, expands oil drilling, etc is an illusion. But earmarks are a distraction that makes us pennywise and pound foolish. I loathe McCain for this distraction.

  • http://itsaboutfreedom.proboards.com IronDioPriest

    “In our zeal to take back the House and help our team, let?s not expect too much.”

    For me, this is the GOP’s last chance. Politics as usual is dead for me and millions of Americans like me. Either politicians get that, or they don’t.

    The result of a lazy electorate and a middling GOP is our nation standing at the brink of the same precipice which all great empires have eventually stood. The only hope for America now is for the electorate to force the GOP to do the bidding of the American people in response to the domestic enemy which threatens the republic.

    Anything short of the GOP representing the will of those who wish to save the republic will damn the republic. We don’t have the luxury of time to wait for the GOP to “get it”. It has got to be now, or the people will be forced to take matters into their own hands in one regard or another, and that places the fate of the nation in the hands of chaos.

    No Erick, I will not mitigate my expectations of the GOP. I expect them to deliver the constitution from its bonds, nothing less.

  • fpete13527

    For the GOP to not include an earmark ban shows that they have no idea what the primary issue is that the American people are screaming about – spending.

    At this point, I get no sense that the current GOP leadership is serious about getting themsleves back on course. Even with respect to repealling ObamaCare, I see minus zero committment by them to attack it with tenacity.

    Looks like many in the GOP just want to get power back to keep progressive RINO pork flowing shifted for their own interests and maintain Republican progressivism.

    I think that there are probably many more in the GOP that will need to be reminded that they are ingnoring the will of the people. I think that there are many addtional GOP incumbants that will need ejection from office.

  • cordpt

    % of the spending they constitute.

    As you admit, they’re used as a bribe to buy votes (including for the conservative legislation motorized by the DeLay/Hastert conservative leadership which was everything but conservative). Making it easier for the really expensive stuff to be approved.

    Get rid of earmarks and legislation that only exists due to the rent-seeking of interest groups will progressively disappear.

    We need to change the incentives scheme legislators are dealing with. Make them more dependable on how much of their constituency tax money they can protect and not on how much pork they can bring home.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    They must be held accountable? Really? What if they screw up? Then in two years we put the left back in power?
    How about we send a message before they screw-up again.

    How about a million man March in January on the first day of the first session after the swearing in.

    So it is January in DC and it is cold. Instead of standing around and freezing while they sit toasty; we drive around the Capitol Building, Whitehouse and Supreme Court, VERY SLOOOOOWLY for two or three days. Start ealy so they struggle to even get there and their aids and their lobbyists, etc.

    No permits, no may we please, just a lot of ticked off Americans exercising their constitutional right to go 10 miles per hour.

    Call it gridlock for gridlock.

    A shutdown showdown where Newt (or Boehner) don’t blink is what is needed to get out of this mess. Demand a balanced budget, without tax increases, immediately, not five years down the road. We are $14 Trillion dollars in debt, we don’t have five years down the road.

    Slogan “Come watch Hell freeze over.“

  • Common_Cents

    DC is like a factory that takes all kinds of raw material (Dem and Rep) and churns out establishment types who get used to the elite lifestyle.

    We can send the most well intentioned to DC and many of them will get sucked in and assimilated.

    With a new crop of well intentioned folks hopefully going to DC they will need our support to change the system to produce a much better product that actually satisfies the real customer, the people.

    Contract with America is a good start but like many say, we are skeptical, with good reason, that it is just flashy marketing and empty promises.

    We do need firm commitments of Obamacare repeal etc…

    We also need structural commitments to change the machine. Term limits? rules on bills only containing relevant amendments? more accountability for congress, eliminating earmarks etc…..

    That way the DC machine can churn out results that are more aligned with the peoples interest instead of the DC elite.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    You can’t change human nature and you can’t get money out of politics. You can pass laws that repeal ObamaCare and still have earmarks. We have had the equivalent of pork (much of which was good, ie roads) since the FIRST Congress and always will. What we didn’t have until liberals took over DC was Big Government. Earmarks can exist and be used as we reduce the size of government.

    To focus on earmarks is to seem unserious. I would say that we need radical change in the budget process, but pork favors will always BE. Humans being what they are.

  • acat

    “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans. Aim high in hope and work. Remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.”
    – Daniel Burnham

    “Let’s make a few dinking little changes”
    – Gutless D.C. GOP twits

    ’nuff said.

    Mew

  • cordpt

    His lifetime ranking from Citizens Against Government Waste is lower than Dick Lugar’s.

    Him, KBH and Shelby are the only current republican Senators with the honour of winning the Porker of the Month award. Plus the guys who voted down the McCain-DeMint moratorium, which includes a few more republicans.

  • RedBeard

    I daresay very, very few would meet the standard set by the Father of the Constitution.

    After this election, the roster of such people will only grow slightly.

    There must not be any letup in our efforts after November. If anything, a doubling of intensity is called for.

    I want my country back. It’s that simple. I’m as mad as hell, and I’m one of many millions. Congressional Democrats need to be removed, and congressional Republicans may ignore this movement at their own peril.

  • rdelbov

    has anyone noticed what has gone in DC since Scott Brown has been elected? Perhaps the GOP has learned?

    1. +300 bills passed by the house have gone nowhere in the senate. +300 Pelosi pleasing bills have not been acted on.

    2. No democrat budget resolution

    3. No spending bills have passed

    4. record number low number of judges have been confirmed for this two year term(%of those nominated) plus at a slower rate in total number since Nixon for a two year term

    5. DADT-Dream-Cap/Trade have been shelved

    That’s with 41 senate votes.

    I get the idea -sometimes -that folks in DC get absolute no credit here for slowing down the Obama agenda. When I see what has been done with 41 I just imagine what will happen with more GOP senators and a republican house.

    I might add that we have to hunt around here to see exactly is in this republican agenda. Is there anything at all in there that’s any good?

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    Balanced budget. repeal 16 and 17, narrowly define federal taxing authority so they cannot add new taxes willy-nilly.

    The exact changes can be debated but we absolutely must understand; the constitution as written and amended brought us here. unchanged we will stay here. Any victory we have in November will prove temporary because the system is designed to lead here (The 16th, 17th and Federal Rerserve System primarily). Changes are needed. The founders knew this would happen. They knew we would eventually need amendments and fixes and they provided for it.

    Let’s figure out in a deliberative fashion what changes we will make when given the chance.

    http://americanamendment.com/TheCommittee

  • deano64

    This fight has only just begun (not that it hasn’t been going on for ages). These Politicians still want to play politics. They obviously don’t understand we want real reform that limits governement powers and goes beyond that to reduce the current size of goverment.

    What do we do? We become Precinct Committeeman and take back the party
    from within. I like our county GOP Chairman, he’s a good conservative, but he probably worries about guys like me because he knows I will be voting for the next County Chairman. And beyond that I will be voting for our GOP national Reps who will decide things like who our next RNC Chairman will be.

    Become a Precinct Committeeman today!

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    2010 is either going to be the beginning as the old leadership is replaced by TEA party principled people or the beginning of the very real end of the Republic as we’ve thought we’ve known it growing up. Either way change is coming, unintended consequential change perhaps but change none the less.

  • eburke

    isn’t the amount of money that is spent in and of itself; it’s the fact that they’re used to bribel CongressCritters for their votes on the Big Government stuff that *does* swell the deficits tremendously.

    Plus, they’ve become, rightly or wrongly, a symbol in voters’ minds as to the corruption and elitism of Washington. That, coupled with what I posited in the previous paragraph, leaves me with little desire to defend them in theory or practice.

  • ceili_dancer

    During the Clinton inaguration, Edward James Olmos (sp?) and a friend were walking along the mall and spotted a flyover by the military. He got upset at first and was asking his friend what they were doing there and then stopped. He came to the realization that those were now their jets and high fives his friend.
    The establishment Republicans view government the same way. That’s now my checkbook and they high five each other and spend away. Until they step back and take a look at the big picture, if their aids will let them, they’ll continue to spend like the drunken sailors of ’00-’06. (no offense to the men and women in the Navy)
    Rick Santelli summed it up best, “STOP SPENDING, STOP SPENDING.”

  • Scope

    it will do more harm to the GOP, than any good. 2010 is shaping up to be a good year for Republicans, but, not because many believe the Republicans are so much better than Democrats, but, because the majority views the Obama administration, and the Progressives as to radically left. 2010 is a referendum against Progressivism, and, a referendum for Conservatism, not Republicanism. I doubt many would deny that there is a major rift between the Conservatives and the Republicans. The Conservatives have cut deeply into the entrenched Republican ruling class, with the primary election wins with Paul, Angle, and O’Donnell for examples.

    I just read an article talking about Gingrich’s Contract with America, and how if failed after a few short years, mainly because many of the entrenched, long time Republican Senators, in particular, refused to support it, almost from the beginning. There never were any additional “Contracts,” because the Republicans knew that unless you can get most Republicans on board, you are only setting yourself up for failure, and a very public failure at that.

    It is my understanding that this document was developed by McCarthy, Cantor and Ryan, using information from their YouVote website, which I viewed as a political gimmic, at the taxpayers expense. I haven’t looked at the site since it’s inception, but, I would bet that repealing Obamacare, cutting out earmarks, and shrinking the government would have been high on the list from those voting there. Did those that developed the document pick and choose what they were willing to do, rather than go by the wishes of the voters? Seems that way.

    McCarthy, Cantor and Ryan are all incumbents, that were there during the Bush administration, that helped bring the near demise of the Republican party, because of their big spending, government growing votes, for the Bush administration agenda. This is a very big anti-incumbent mid-term, and it isn’t only anti democrat incumbents. If these people had truly learned their lesson from 06 and 08, they would have been supporting the will of the people, and would have stayed out of primary races, until the voters made their choices. I don’t know who all is on the list of “Young Guns” but, I do know one of these people pushed hard for the election of a state senator who voted for one of the biggest tax increases in the state of VA’s history, under a Democrat Governor, and, at a time when there was a surplus. That wasn’t the only anti-conservative vote this senator participated in.

    Rep. Tom Perriello D-VA-05, has said repeatedly, that he voted for Pelosi legislation, because “they had to do something.” I am going to turn that phrase around onto this document- “They believed they had to do something” even if it turns out to be meaningless, or even harmful. Is this a statement against the Tea Partiers.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    To IronDioPriest, and glorious, who asked above, “So what do we do?”

    If you are still sitting in the political bleachers, and yelling at the ball players on the field, you won’t make any difference in what the ball players do.

    The ball players in politics are those who are actually in the ball game. The real ball game is INSIDE the two major political parties.

    If you want to change the Republican Party, you have to become a member of the Party. Anyone can register to vote as a Republican. That does not make one a member of the Party. The “card carrying” members of the Party are the precinct committeemen. Precinct committeemen, and ONLY precinct committeemen, get to vote to determine who becomes the leaders of the Party. Who gets to be on the platform committee, for example. If you were only a “mere” registered Republican in the 2008 election cycle, you had NO say in whether Michael Steele, or someone else, became the chairman of the RNC. If you were a committeeman, and therefore eligible to get elected to your state GOP’s convention, you may have had a vote in the elections that determined who became your state’s RNC delegates. (For example, in Arizona, every Republican Party legislative district committee may elect one delegate to the state convention for every three elected precinct committeemen. In 2008, my legislative district, no. 17, had about 65 precinct committeemen; now, after our primary election, we now have 123 elected precinct committeemen. You can see the results here: http://recorder.maricopa.gov/electionresults/).)

    So, at our LD 17 meeting a few days after the Nov. 2 election, those 123 precinct committeemen will elect new officers — a chairman, a first vice chair, a second vice chair, a treasurer and a secretary. After that, we’ll have an election of delegates to the state convention. The 123 will elect 41 delegates. Some precinct committeemen won’t want to be a delegate, but most will. Those 41 state delegates will be eligible to attend the state convention and be eligible to cast votes for our three AZ RNC delegates. According to the Rules of the Republican Party, each state’s RNC delegates are the state chairman and two delegates elected at the convention, one woman and one man.

    At the Maricopa County GOP convention in January of 2009, we had a conservative candidate and a moderate candidate running for the chairmanship. The conservative won — by less than one per cent of the votes cast.

    Thereafter, at the state GOP convention, same thing. A conservative, Randy Pullen, our incumbent chair, defeated Lisa James, a “McCain moderate.” By less than one per cent of the votes cast.

    You want a more conservative Republican Party? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Become a precinct committeeman.

    If you want to change the Republican Party, you have to become a voting member of it. Writing about it won’t change it. Talking about it won’t change it. The ONLY way to change the Party is to get inside it.

    Trust me, the Party DOES NOT WANT YOU TO FIGURE THIS OUT. If you can find video of an incumbent Republican, conservative or otherwise, talking about this, please post it here. Almost every incumbent Republican likes the status quo just fine because, all things being equal, with history as their guide, incumbents enjoy a greater than 90 per cent re-election chance. But, if more conservatives come into the PC ranks, they might get booted in the primary if favor of a more conservative Republican challenger — because precinct committeemen are instrumental in getting out the vote in the all-important, traditionally-very-low-turnout primary elections.

    HALF these precinct committeemen slots are vacant, on average, in every state in the Republican Party.

    Where I live, in Maricopa County, the county recorder just released the latest election results (we elect our precinct committeemen — every state has a different system). We went from 1,989 elected PCs to 2,924. Most of those new PCs are conservatives. I know, because I helped to recruit many of them at tea parties and other grass roots conservative gatherings. But, those numbers are still PATHETIC.

    In 2008, those 1,989 PCs represented only 31.9 per cent of the POTENTIAL STRENGTH of our Maricopa County GOP, because there were 6,231 slots available for the approximately 694,000 registered Republican voters in the county. (By statute, each party gets allocated one precinct committeeman for every 125 registered voters of that party in a precinct. For example, my precinct has 8 slots, and all 8 are filled. But, about one third of the precincts in the state have NO precinct committeeman.)

    Now, we’ve got a few more PC slots in the county because our registrations went up by about a thousand. So, we’re up to a whopping 46.9 per cent of our slots being filled! Whoopdee do! That is improvement, but still PATHETIC.

    So, the recruitment efforts will continue.

    Do the numbers. Our Party is split about 50-50 ideologically in the PC ranks nationwide. Michael Steele’s election reflects that split. A bland, timid faux conservative. Elected by an ideologically split party.

    If conservatives would flood into the local GOP committee meetings, and become precinct committeemen (none of the requirements are onerous), that 50-50 split would change to conservatives having a 75 per cent majority. Bye-bye, Michael Steele, welcome new conservative leadership across the board.

    But, that would require thousands and thousands of conservatives actually going to their local GOP committee meetings. Up to now, it seems they don’t know about this possibility.

    I am to change that.

    Some know about this strategy, but have some excuse for not getting involved. I’ve heard a lot of excuses.

    I hope every conservative reading this, who is not yet a ball player in the real ball game of politics, will get to their local GOP committee meeting and find out how to become a PC. There’s more info at the links below.

    Your Party NEEDS you.

    For Liberty,
    ColdWarrior, PC (that?s ?precinct committeeman,? not ?political child!?)
    Conservatives, UNITE! CHANGE the Republican Party and save the world by UNITING INSIDE the Party as precinct committeemen. NOW! (41 days until Nov. 2 — what are YOU DOING to help get out the vote in your precinct?)

  • http://www.moccasincreekminutemen.com VizBiz

    I wasn’t the only one that rolled my eyes when they rolled this thing out.

  • Scope

    Earmarks are a means of funding home state projects for those that have helped to swell the war chests of the Senator or Rep. They often are nothing more than pay-backs, and future re-election wins. Until this year, those huge war chests were guarantees that new, less wealthy candidates, had no chance of outing those that failed to honor the wishes of their voters. We’re seeing that right now with Murkowski and Castle.

  • expatuae

    Jerry Lewis took the helm of the committee in 2005. History’s verdict should be enough to keep him away from the pursestrings. Even without the national mood as it is, Appropriations needs real leadership.

    Imagine letting a freshman run the appropriations committee. That would be historic.

    I remember Kasich back in 95 on the budget committee- relative neophyte who held the line. They did, for awhile at least until Delay and the permanent majority crew took control.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    Frankly, I could care less about earmarks although agree they are potentially a gateway drug to a more comprehensive addiction. But a ban seems trite and akin to Obama’s recent pledge to reduce Discretionary Spending (which by the way hits on two fronts; it supposedly marks his epiphany to become fiscally responsible. Ha! And will be used as a cudgel against Republicans since they did in the past increase the discretionary part of our budget). Forgive me but I believe these are both relatively feeble given our current dire situation.

    My primary concerns are that we should focus on larger, achievable spending reductions/pledge specific goals (which I understand are in the new “contract”) and more importantly codify the actual will of our existing leadership, which I will again cite ad nauseum got us into this mess, to actually carry out any pledge or keep us on course. On the latter point, do you think Mitch and John would pledge in the contract to subject themselves to a confidence vote? Doubt it and therein lies the Achilles Heal. The minute Mitch gets another chance to shine Olympia and Susan’s shoes he will do it- just not in public.

    We are getting lip service from Republican leadership because they need our votes at the moment to get back in power. These clowns have been pulling the tug-of-war line in the other direction behind our back and then publicly declaring an affinity when irrespective of their tom-foolery we win. They don’t respect us; they use us as pawns. I already on the brink of going native and bolting this party. If they pull any of this junk, count me as an independent in the next POTUS election.

  • avgjo

    I don’t know much about this group, but I’ve heard them mentioned from time to time.

    thanks.

  • Common_Cents

    We have to change the rules and create more limitations instead of just “trusting” the next wave of liars campaigning to do the “right” thing once they get in office.

    We’ve fallen for that banana in the tailpipe one too many times.

  • joecollins

    John McCain, RINO that he is, made us all more aware of earmarks. I give him credit for raising our level of awareness and helping us to see earmarks as the evil tool they have become.

  • gwalt

    http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml

    Take a look at that list and tell me that only 25% needs to be cut. It would be a great start BTW—but needs to be bigger. Cantor started a site and asked for input of what 5 agencies would we recommend?
    5? That’s it?

    How about 26 letters worth? As in take the whole A-Z list and everything listed underneath them —-scrap them all and start from scratch.

  • deano64

    Chairman would certainly have preferred I become an appointed PC rather than an elected PC this time around. I really had to push and get some other Precinct Committeeman/Tea Partiers involved to get any assistance out of the guy.

    On another note. I found a voluteer last weekend walking my precinct-he’s going to become a Precinct Committeeman (he just doesn’t know it yet..muahaha).

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Their definitions of ‘waste’ and ‘pork’ are pretty shaky from what I’ve seen in the past.

  • audax
  • uselogic

    I’d do that. They accused the “lowly” constituents of stalking them at the HC town halls. Give ‘em a real reason to worry. Besides,…. it’s not like a few days of DC gridlock wouldn’t benefit the country as a whole, anyway.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    I don’t think we can assume that less than a majority of democrats would not have enacted their budgets, omnibus spending, ObamaCare bills etc sans earmarks.

    It is their liberal policy preferences than are the reason for the passage of liberal legislation since 1930s and the past 2 years, not earmarks.

    I suppose that you might be able to find some minor/medium bills over the past 70 years in which pork/horse trading got them passed, but you see, arguing about trying to get rid of political bargaining is like those that were for McCain-Feingold, to “get money out of politics”ie they imagine they can change human nature.

    Earmarks are merely the vehicle for what must and will be, but which in the aggregate are so tiny that its not worth the trouble given trillions on soc sec, Medicare etc; and

    They play a role on passage of legislation only when majorities are small.

    And then, one would have to believe that the conservatives wouldn’t cave on earmarks but would on socialism legislation or vice versa? I’m not seeing it.

    Yes, the LEVEL of earmarks bespeak the level of political corruption and lack of spine, but that can also be said of the courage to reduce government generally.

    Alaska shows that Murkowski could not buy the election with earmarks as people realized that votes on econ policy affect their lives much more than Byrd-like projects.

    eburke, I do not think that earmarks are a strong symbol with voters compared to the recession, ObamaCare and dozens of other issues. I think its mostly a fetish of McCain et al for an issue they can demigod and policy/activist/political blogger wonks due to laziness as its so easy to call out the outrageous examples.

    I will say this though on an issue that relates to this, and it is the relationship of earmarks to the LENGHTH of BILLS, the budget process and bills too long and complicated to read.

    That is where conservatives need to change DC by insisting on simple, one issue bills that don;t require CPAs and lawyers to “interpret” for us. Next thing you know, some agency will make Edison’s bulb illegal while funding orgasm studies.

  • Scope

    One issue, one bill, no add ins/ons. You can see right now what problems the multi-issue bills cause with the current Defense Bill, with the Dream Act, and DADT added on. This has been done by Republicans as well. I remember them clearly adding War Funding onto other must pass legislation. It must stop.

  • Dave_in_Fla

    Contract with America included a big event in front of the Capitol where all the current members and the new candidates all promised that they would “bring to the floor and vote on ______ legislation within 100 days”

    Everyone forgets this little nuance, but I haven’t. They fully kept the promises of the Contract with America, because by God those bills did come to the floor of the House, where they were then defeated.

    Promise of legislation is no where as effective as firm statements of core principles. I’m not going to rehash the argument about earmarks, other than to affirm that I am not with the majority here regarding the need to ban them. Earmarks are a distraction about a tactic. We need to focus on strategy. The long term health of the Country requires that rational legislative efforts return to Washington and that the entitlement mentality be reigned in.

    However, I fear that 100 days into the new Congress, our side will consist of a conservative version of DKOS, with people screaming about how we’ve been sold out, and we aren’t getting what we voted for. This is exactly what they were doing 6 months in, when they didn’t get Gitmo closed and the troops flying home from Iraq.

    Let’s not forget that our electoral advantage this cycle is NOT from the country suddenly waking up and deciding they believe in conservatism. It is because their side is depressed and the independents are voting for us instead of them this time around. Well in 2 years that can easily change if there isn’t a tangible result showing sanity in governing that will convince those same Independents to stay with the GOP.

    If Version 2 of the CWA is a foundational set of governing principles that begins to show how the adults will govern, and why Conservative principles are the best approach, then it can be helpful to growing the base. But if it is a reprise of promising to bring a laundry list of our favorite legislative desires up for a vote, then it will be useless.

    Look at the reality of trying to repeal Obamacare. While I want this piece of crap repealed with the rest of you, the legislative difficulty is high. You have to get past the Senate fillabuster and a veto. Do we really think that even with huge gains in the House, we will have enough votes to muster the 2/3rd needed to override a veto? The best we can hope for is defunding. The most likely scenario is that it is replaced by a new bill that keeps some of the “popular” portions of the bill. This includes the pre-conditions legislation, that will force insurance rates up. Hopefully, it will be offset by some alternative initiatives like expanded use of HSAs.

    The depressing thing is I don’t have to look any further than the comments in this thread to know EXACTLY what will be said about our Congressional majority next May:

    “If Boehner doesn?t cut the government, secure the border, and end earmarks, he needs to be defeated in the primary”

    “Every one of these sorry ruling class (unpleasant name deleted) need to go”

    “this is the GOP?s last chance. Politics as usual is dead for me and millions of Americans like me”

    “many more in the GOP that will need to be reminded that they are ingnoring the will of the people. I think that there are many addtional GOP incumbants that will need ejection from office.”

    I expect to enjoy the night of November 2nd a great deal. But I hope that we remember that we live in a real world where the Leftists still retain sufficient power to block our agenda as well, just like we managed to stop cap and trade and card check.

    Long term education and changing of voter attitudes toward our agenda is what is necessary to win the war. Empty threats to elect even more Conservative candidates is doomed to failure, because the center of gravity remains slightly to the right of the middle.

  • aesthete
  • kpatcom

    Most of the people who are elected are like bananas: They go in green,
    get pressured into turning yellow, then become rotten.

  • aesthete

    It is insignificant from a spending pov, and to some extent, it will happen, anyways. However, taking away one of the methods used to reward or punish legislators through their districts’ good behaviors as judged by their betters in the Senate/White House, is good enough for me. (I do agree that focusing on entitlements + Obamacare is more important, though.)

  • aesthete

    and because it’s not a GOP President in the WH. We’ll see how well they do when they have the levers to power.

  • aesthete

    It’s almost assured that the same old crap will start up after 2010; I’ll give the Tea Party until 2016 to force a directional shift on the GOP.

  • eburke

    is a perfect example of the kind of vote buying w/earmarkds that I’m talking about. Maybe some of these feckless weasels in the Dem Party would’ve voted for it anyway but they extracted their pound of my flesh in the process.

    At best, a lack of earmarks would’ve made it more difficult to pass. At worst, it would’ve passed anyway but at least they wouldn’t have given away more of *my* money to accomplish the inevitable.

  • aesthete

    However, a directional change is necessary if we as conservatives are to support Republicans. Ryan’s Roadmap is a good example of how adults govern, and can stand up to lots of critique. It is, thus far, the only “adult” plan that I have seen. The others amount to partisan eye-jabbing and hopelessly myopic sort-of promises that are made more to appease the base than out of any real compunction. I don’t mind us taking the scenic route to Constitutional governance and balanced budgets; reality dictates that that’s the road we’re going to have to take, like it or not. I would, however, like to know that we’re at least going the right direction.

  • http://conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish/ reelman

    Neera Tanden, New Republic Sept 2010
    ?What a president does communicates a message to the American people, and, sometimes, what he does not do communicates a message as well. It can inform the public?s opinion about what he thinks is wrong and what he thinks is right; what needs fixing and what is working.This principle helps explain why, despite saying he is on their side in helping the economy improve, President Obama has struggled to convince the American public that he understands and wants to alleviate their suffering?..?
    =====
    YADA YADA, the simple facts are wild gov-meant spending, higher taxes and demonizing businesses do not work!
    You cannot have a good economy with Carter-ism or Obama-ism because it ignores the basic laws of human behavior and economics.
    How many times is some national democrat going to mouth off about the heavenly hand of gov-meant?
    How many times does history have to prove to these socialistic blockheads that over spending, over taxing and over regulating are toxic to any nation?
    Each and every time its the same ole cycle. Democrats boldly proclaim the wonders of socialism or monster gov-meant as they campaign hiding it under the smiling cloak of caring or fairness or some other catch phrase. They NEVER actually defend their policies (they never debate historical results either) but create demons that only a monster gov-meant can defeat with trillions of taxpayers dollars. When reality sets in they start demanding patience and even more over spending! This SV or ?Stupidity Virus? even infects a few Republicans called RINOs who join in the insanity. Do voters not see that every major gov-meant program has been 3-9x the selling price for generations? So why should anyone now believe Obamacare or a STIM?
    National democrats must be the most arrogant most stupid people made to think of Cuba or China as models for anything.
    Now that the actual 2 year figures can?t be faked (yet) ?we the people? (the ones berated by the elected blockheads when questioned) have had it with strident arrogant lying-to-your-face weekly secular socialists.
    So now we are in the election phase where the clueless lib-media distract, lie and smear as ordered by the national demo-fools to save them.
    They prefer to save secular socialism before saving America.
    http://conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish

  • Dave_in_Fla

    I agree with you, I think it is a great plan that is a serious policy proposal. I would like it to be more publicized by the GOP.

  • gbenton

    What the GOP needs is a popular conservative reform – something that would capture the heart and minds of even the center independents.

    What is THE most feared and loathed face of govt for most? The IRS. Everyone hates April 15th.

    Taxes are a pocket book issue – and the economy needs a tax CUT real bad for small business and consumers alike.

    Not just a flat income tax, but an END to the taxation of income via something like the fairtax (consumption tax) is what I would love to see the GOP do.

    No one in the public is gonna get that excited about earmarks, or other stuff they probably don’t even understand directly.

    But if the GOP were to propose to limit govt spending to a percentage of GDP and replace the income tax with a Fair Tax – (and back that up by neutering the 16th Ammendment so the income tax could not return),

    The public ain’t gonna get excited about the Federal Reserve or the 17th amendment right now (who even knows, among the general public, what those issues mean to them?)

    Not just tax cuts… but broaden the tax base, wipe April 15th off the calender of dreaded days… and show the American people that they can hold govt accountable for taxing and spending by seeing exactly what it costs them, and vote accordingly.

    If the GOP did that one thing, and then added in the Border and repeal Obamacare, I can’t imagine the public not rallying to the cause.

    Am I missing something?

    We need something more exciting than ‘hope and change’ and slaying the IRS dragon while getting spending under control would have to be a jobs friendly issue right?

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    When you have to debate about the technical merits, it’s not obviously pork and it shouldn’t be a highlighted issue.

  • aesthete

    That one was a head-scratcher. Plus, it’s somewhat endemic to the bidding process which, while possibly flawed, is not necessarily “pork” or “waste”. Part of the problem with these organizations is that “waste” is more an integrated part of government operations than something that has its own dedicated funding, and so they tend to include “waste” that is impossible to remove without removing or dramatically re-envisioning the program from whence such waste originated. Fred Thompson had an interesting white paper dealing with that very subject.

  • Dave_in_Fla

    I’d like to know the over/under on the number of diaries that will be posted complaining the it is heavy on financial discipline and light on social issues.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    Having virtually unlimited money makes for actually unlimited government.

    Take away 75% of their money and they just might be small enough to control.

    FairTax if it has to be, it won’t stop massive government, it is just a fairer way to fund it.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    Is a six month or six year shutdown.
    When everbody sees the world NOT end then selling leftwing big government would get a lot harder.
    From the right wouldn’t it be great just once to see real guts?

  • aesthete

    It’s about as good (or bad) as I expected, myself: lots of talk about mythical government waste, repeal of ObamaCare (which is good), and little to no discussion of entitlement spending. Hopefully, the Tea Partiers will be able to get concessions on entitlements in the future.

  • pilgrim
  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    They could have just reprinted the US Constitution and said, “There, we promise that.”

    Guess that wouldn’t be sexy like Twenty-One pages of wonkish gibberish.

    It also shows a complete lack of understanding concerning what did work about the original Contract. Its brevity. Hence its marketability.

    Think Google. Who clicks past page one?

    If you are going to send a message the gist of it had better be one page one.

    The average person likely won’t get past the second paragraph of this document.

    And like the major flaw original Contract there is very little in this doc that is permanent. Even if fully enacted we are just an election away from the next Obamanation.

    The original contract at least had a vote on term limits sop.

    The system is fundamentally broken. Or rather it was designed for a different people as Adams said, ?Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.?

    We need a constitution designed to restrain a morally corrupt and dishonest people. After all, most of our elected and appointed officials fit that category and they need to be restrained.

    “In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Jefferson

    Forget President for a day only to see it washed away. What changes would you make if you could rewrite the constitution?

    http://AmericanAmendment.com

  • gbenton

    I support FairTax because it would get rid of the income tax, but I’m not aware of an alternative for replaing income tax with nothing.

    What would fund the level of spending consistent with even limited govt?

    If we set a FairTax rate, subject to a 2/3 majority needed to change it, so that the fed govt got only a fixed percentage of spending for GDP, that I think would sell to the public if advocated clearly.

    But if you got a different alternative, I’m all ears.

    But the income tax, hidden in ppl’s paychecks, must go. No citizen should have to justify how much they make or how much they pay in taxes. What anyone makes is none of the govt’s business in the Founders original vision.

  • calgacus

    It is an outrage that we have not ended all foreign aid- no exceptions.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    And base it off of pre-Tarp Pre-stimulus numbers.

    After all Reagan ran on smaller government when government was spending $500 Billion per year.

    Barry Goldwater Ran on Smaller government when Spending was $120 Billion per year.

    These numbers are sourced at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/hist.pdf so they are even official numbers.

    If ALL income based taxes were eliminated it would still provide $120 Billion in revenue under the current system.

    That’s Barry Goldwater’s government is too large number.

    Next apply a 10% tarriff on imports. Small enough to fall under the historical free trade mantra and big enough to raise $200 Billion. anything under %25 percent was considered free trade when the free trade movement started to sweep the world.

    So $350 Billion. Almost 20% of “W’s” first budget.

    Enough to run a leaner military and a State Department that would fit in a local Walmart. And that pretty well covers what they should be doing anyway.
    As for leaner military. That is the sticky thorn in the conservative side. But to assume waste is not still rampant in the military is to show a lack of understand about government purchasing. Yes I have some experience here. Second, we can’t go nation building around the world.
    Nation destroying sure. Sometimes necessary. But Iraq and Afganistan could both have been done properly for $50 Billion Maybe $25 Billion. Instead we are already over $1 Trillion on them with no real end in sight.

    I think there is every reason to believe doubling the take home pay of Americans would increase maybe even double the $350 Billion since Americans would buy more domestic and imported products with the money they keep.

    Certainly $700 Billion should be plenty to do everything the government is supposed to do.

    Retirement/Social Security is the final wrench in the game.
    Give it the states by giving control to a Board of Trustees appointed by governors. Help provide continuing funding by transferring all federal real estate and mineral rights, etc. to the Board to be used to enhance revenue by selling or renting the land out and by DRILLING in ANWR and elsewhere. Allow that board, and only that board, to collect a 10% income tax from companies with 500 or more employees for 25 or 50 years.

    Income tax gone without a sales tax.

  • gbenton

    very compelling. What if the Republicans sold that to the American people with a comprehensive plan to transition. That would have been a worthy pledge.

  • davesinsanantonio

    a popcorn hull under the gum. Until you get rid of that popcorn hull, you cannot concentrate on anything else. Get rid of it! Then you can deal with whatever is left. Get rid of earmarks and the good citizens of this country will allow us a reasonable (but not very long) amount of time to deal with the rest of what is needed to be cured.

  • davesinsanantonio

    do it without talking about it than to talk about it without the doing.
    In fact, if they “do”, everyone else will be talking about it, and they won’t have to!

  • davesinsanantonio

    good it sounds, looks to be self-serving. Letting Heritage, or whoever, write it up will seem to be taking the “incumbent seeking re-election” rhetoric out of it.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    I doubt there are 10 Republicans with the guts to propose it. It would be nice if we did it deliberately and maybe my suggestion is not exactly the best way to do it.
    However our debt will dictate a drastic and uncontrolled action shortly. When it is forced upon us we will not likely have the luxury of choosing our future. It will be decided by the next Hitler or Stalin. It is that bad.

    We are on final and behind the power curve. We need to put the nose down in a controlled manner instead just being a passenger. Right now we are all passengers. Either way the nose is going down the question is, is the airplane going down with it.

  • edintexas

    And 28 pages isn’t getting into the details? I guess you didn’t know it would be 28 pages when you wrote that. But this is being written by politicians and campaign consultants who still haven’t a clue. Fresh off of attempting to determine the outcome of GOP primaries, these clowns still act as if it is business as usual. I do sincerely hope these people wake up (or the adults wake them up) in time, for the consequences of failure may take us somewhere we don’t want to go.

  • ihateliberals

    the GOP to remember how it got is greatest power ever. The principles that Ronald Reagan governed by need to be applied now more than ever. we just need to say no to allowing our jobs to go overseas. we need to say no to big spending programs, we need to say NO to Mexico and China, We need to say no to Obamacare and we just need to say NO to the socialization of our country. Lower taxes and to provide businesses with the tools and incentives they need to open the free markers again.

  • ihateliberals

    the GOP will go the way of the Whigs it replaced. They have to learn to listen to the people and not what they want for a personal agenda. they have to learn that it really is “We the people”. I sincerely hope that the GOP gets on board with us conservatives because starting a new party is going to be tough and costly to the people. It may actually give the Liberals even more power and that is not what we want. If we let them stay in power too long they will have the opportunity to pull a Chavez on us. Then there will only be one party and no more USA. Don’t laugh it could happen.

  • soljerblue

    Unless we get far more involved than we are now. Unless we stay on the case of our elected representatives, and fully in their faces, we can never make change that sticks. We have a system crafted with the idea that ultimate power resides with the people. If we, the people, do not USE that power, we will surely lose it. We ARE losing it, and only lately have come to realize the fact because Obama was meant to be a wake up call. If the Pledge To America is as wishy washy as Erick and others — me included — think that it is, it is still a start. If the current House leadership doesn’t get it, we need to send to Congress enough conservatives to change the leaders’ minds. I have said here before that before we can dismantle the progressive agenda and the Democrats who perpetuate it we absolutely must either change the minds of GOP leaders, or change the leaders. What passes for a Pledge To America simply proves my point.

  • JSobieski

    Moreover, earmarks are definitely more of an in the beltway topic of conversation than elserwhere. I don’t even hear tea party people talk that much about it, given the scope of the other financial issues that we face.

    What percentage of the country cares about earmarks? If our deficit was 5% or less of GDP, I would say precious few. Frankly, I’m not sure that earmarks are inherently less sensible than spending directing by a government bureaucrat.

    In terms of the accounting issue, good luck with that. Accounting is the root of all evil. Behind every crooked business is crooked accounting. Show me a corporate scandal and I will show you crooked accounting. Even in a small business context, there are a lot of different small accounting decisions that can result in a big difference in the aggregate. Given the scope of the US government, the accounting issues may simply be inherent.