Everyone in America is still talking about what happened on Friday in the House of Representatives as the GOP establishment’s first attempt to deal with Obamacare went down in flames in spectacular fashion.
There weren’t any final vote tallies to analyze but still everyone unmistakably understood it wasn’t a victory for the GOP.
David M. Drucker of the Washington Examiner reported, “The American Health Care Act was pulled from the House floor when it became clear that the Republicans were well short of the 216 GOP votes they needed to clear the bill and send it to the Senate.
“After seven years of promises to repeal Obamacare, Republicans and the president failed to orchestrate a deal to replace the law, casting a shadow over Trump’s leadership and the party’s ambitious legislative agenda.”
Some of us don’t necessarily see that “shadow.” This isn’t Groundhog Day. It was just another day in the life of the American republic and people will move on to the next issue. Six weeks—or even six days—from now, no one’s going to be talking about this anymore.
That said, with the dirty work of killing the RINOcare bill out of the way conservatives should be prepared for the wave of blame that’s certainly headed their way from virtually all sides.
The Democrats are already mocking President Donald Trump as a failure for his inability to push Republican conservatives to vote for the bill on his say-so alone. They’ll soon begin comparing him to his predecessor and make all sorts of wild assertions that Obama was a more effective leader, more knowledgeable on policy, etc…
Meanwhile, the Republican establishment will secretly blame Trump for the same reason why also pointing a public finger at the Freedom Caucus for disloyalty and an unwillingness to go along “for the good of the country.” Some conservatives who bought into the bill because of these arguments will also condemn their fellow party members for granting Democrats a “free” victory without spending an ounce of political capital.
They will contend the Freedom Caucus essentially did what John Boehner used to do—join with the Democrats’ side on a very important bill. Only this time it was to kill the legislation rather than pass it.
All of these rationales are wrong. Period.
The winner here is America, which didn’t fall victim to another piece of bad legislation just because the current House majority felt it necessary to jam something through knowing there’s a friendly signature waiting down the street at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The legislative process was also a winner. Why? It worked. Legislators—at least some of them—ignored party labels to vote their preferences on a bill.
What’s so terrible about that? Isn’t that what the Founding Fathers envisioned prior to the formation of the two-party system? Aren’t representatives supposed to assess each bill individually and vote accordingly?
Beyond theory, here’s what conservatives and Republicans should do going forward:
First, use regular order to craft a bill with provisions that will gain enough votes to pass it.
Start with the Freedom Caucus. It’s time for conservative members to put together their own version of a healthcare bill, complete with a full repeal of Obamacare and free market solutions to lower premium costs. The Freedom Caucus has acquired an undeserved reputation as being against all legislation and only being relevant when killing bad bills.
It’s time for them to change the narrative. In addition to saying “no” to the Republican establishment’s relentless big government leanings, conservatives should put their own vision forward by writing bills that serve as the starting point for new issues or at the very least, counter what the establishment’s produced on the day a new proposal is revealed to the public.
“Paul Ryan has brought out his bill. Here is our alternative.”
Two, no doubt President Donald Trump learned a lesson in this episode and he’ll be more likely to start advocating for the winning side right from the start next time.
It just so happened the president’s position on healthcare was closer to the Republican establishment’s in this case. Trump discovered that conservative grassroots groups weren’t going to go along with the notion of change for change’s sake just because of his presidential leadership. Trump was elected to bust up Washington, not join it.
I predict Trump will realize that RINOcare died because it was part of the swamp culture that he ran against. I don’t see him making the same mistake again.
Three, if Paul Ryan is unwilling to see the writing on the wall and stop producing the most liberal version of legislation right out of the gate and then declare the bill is in its final form, he needs to be replaced as Speaker.
Ryan better get the message that he needs to go to the conservatives first if he wants to keep good order in his caucus. The establishment “moderates” are the true minority in the GOP. It’s about time pressure is put on them to bend to limited government ideals rather than the other way around.
Four, politics isn’t everything. There’s no reason to swallow bad legislation simply because you think it will help you stay on top politically. Republicans will be rewarded for keeping their promises. If they do what they say they’re going to do political victories will follow.
The Republican leadership must cease doing everything according to political calculations. That’s what Democrats do. They should devise a set of ideas, sell them to the public and let the political chips fall where they will. Republicans can’t control everything and it’s folly to even try.
The American People aren’t stupid. They instinctively ignore most of what politicians say because they know it’s usually just spin covering a core of lies. This must end if the swamp is to be drained and the system reclaimed.
Lastly, once and for all Republicans need to learn that they won’t lose their majorities because they’re not liberal enough. During the early years of the Obama presidency Democrats ran roughshod over traditional America and suffered a backlash when good citizens rose up to throw them out.
Republicans will not share the same fate unless they adopt the Democrat strategy of trying to be the best keepers of the welfare state. Democrats are much better at bribing people for votes; Republicans must understand it.
Americans want good, accountable, fiscally responsible government, not more goodies. Raining “free stuff” on Democrat constituencies isn’t going to buy off enough of them to make a permanent Republican majority.
Most of all, Republicans need to stand for something. If Ryan—and to some extent, President Trump—didn’t garner this from the failure of RINOcare, I’m not sure what’s going to teach them.
This article was originally published at ConservativeHQ.com. Used with permission.
See an error in this article?
To contact us or to submit an article
