The shootout at Dysfunction Junction brings to mind a famous song by Talking Heads:
Hold tight
Wait ’til the party’s over
Hold tight
We’re in for nasty weather
There. has. got. to. be. a. way.
Burning down the house
But seriously, folks. What’s preeminently important – as the rudderless MAGA Republicans lurched through 15 Speaker ballots over four days before they settled on Kevin McCarthy to take the gavel – is that they’ve basically shuttered a key branch of government. Which makes sense, in a twisted sort of way, because many of those cultists have no interest in governance and every interest in simply burning things down.
Until they somehow got their act together and elected a Speaker, after McCarthy conceded to the Freedom Caucus’ demands on right-wign legislative priorities, the House of Representatives couldn’t function at all. None of the members could be sworn in. Staffers couldn’t be hired. Committees existed only on paper. Freshmen members couldn’t access their emails; re-elected members couldn’t view classified documents. Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, who has been picked to lead a new Select Committee on China, reportedly said Jan. 4 that he couldn’t conduct a scheduled meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Nancy Pelosi said Jan. 4: “None of us has seen anything like this disrespect for the institution in a most cavalier, frivolous way. It’s quite sad.” And “thank God” that the Republicans weren’t in the majority on Jan. 6, 2021, when the MAGA coup crew sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory – “because that was the day you had to be organized to stave off what was happening.”
But let’s pull the camera back and look at the big picture. What we’re seeing now – exposed in plain sight for all the world to see – is a destructive dynamic long in the making.
Republicans have long advocated for smaller government (lower taxes, a porous safety net), but there was a sea change in the early 1990s when a notably toxic trio – House Speaker Newt Gingrich, radio demagogue Rush Limbaugh, and right-wing activist Grover Norquist (whose goal was “to shrink government to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub”) – launched a purity crusade to replace traditional conservative Republicans with ideological bomb throwers.
In the ensuing decades – climaxing (if I dare use that word) with Trump’s ’16 ascent – burning down government became the cause célèbre. The impulse to sabotage for the sake of sabotage has basically metastasized. The 20 nuts and dolts currently holding the House hostage are the most egregious symptoms of the cult’s disease. They’re not interested in governance, despite the midterm electorate’s anti-extremist message. Their performative beatdowns of Kevin McCarthy (for the apparent sin of being insufficiently MAGA-fanatical) are basically what passes for an agenda. God forbid that in the days ahead we face a real crisis that requires a functioning House.
Contrast that freak show with what happened Jan. 4 at the Ohio-Kentucky border. A key bridge in a crucial freight corridor was just rebuilt with money from the federal infrastructure law signed in 2021 by President Biden. Some Democrats predictably joined Biden at the bridge – Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear – but the other key celebrants were Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, and former Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
Their bipartisan message was obvious: Sometimes you’ve got to put politics aside. Governing is all about finding common ground for the common good. Building a bridge is better than burning down the House.
But presumably, at some point soon, the House arsonists will get a clue. Or maybe the less insane “mainstream” Republicans will defy the arsonists (as if) and work with House Democrats to find an acceptable Speaker. Until then, however, Talking Heads wins the day:
No visible means of support
And you have not seen nothin’ yet
Everything’s stuck together
And I don’t know what you expect
Staring into the TV set…
Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2023
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