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The Purity-for-Profit GOP Leading a Reign of Error
The French Revolution began with disaffected aristocrats wanting to reform their stodgy, inflexible political system. If only King Louis XVI would accept a more liberal Constitutional Monarchy, France could enter into a bright new future.
Once the revolution was underway, a group of the bourgeoisie decided these modest goals weren’t progressive enough, so they formed the Jacobin Club to steer the reforms further to the Left.
When the king was deposed, a group of Jacobins decided the club itself wasn’t progressive enough. They brought in the lower classes and formed the Montagnards to steer the movement even further to the Left.
The ascendant left empowered Maximilien Robespierre to launch the Reign of Terror, but a group of Montagnards decided he still wasn’t progressive enough. They formed the Hébertists to steer the nation further to the Left still.
In American politics, a similar dynamic is taking place, this time from the supposed right:
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) has been able to count on his Facebook page for stalwart support during his long-running battle with the House Republican leadership, including a successful effort to oust House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
“Keep up the great work,” read a comment posted last week. “We the people thank you for ridding us of John Boehner!”
But in recent days, the tone of the comments on Meadows’s page, and those of the other members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, have changed significantly.
“You truly should be ashamed,” one commenter wrote Thursday. “The people in the caucus will be held responsible come election day.”
“You should all be replaced,” a critic told Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.). Another called Rep. Raúl R. Labrador (R-Idaho), one of the most persistent thorns in Boehner’s side, “a RINO establishment lap dog” and “another go-along to get along phony who will GLADLY step on the throats of the Conservative electorate.”
I say “supposed right” because many voices attempting to enforce purity on the House GOP are flirting with a big government presidential candidate. While screams of “RINO” and “sell-out” rise from the angriest corners of the Internet and talk radio, Donald Trump is sticking it to the squishes by promoting campaign finance reform, defending Medicare and Social Security, praising burkas, attacking the Christianity of his rivals, and subtly walking back his stand on immigration.
Today, a leading pro-Trump website hit the House Freedom Caucus for being establishment stooges. The article specifically attacks Reps. Mulvaney, Labrador, Amash, Jorden and Meadows; those congressmen have Liberty Scores ranging from 93 to 96 percent.
And if my inbox full of donation pleas is any guide, several political groups and conservative personalities have learned that the more shrill their cries for the heads of party leaders, the more money they make. As the purity-for-profit tumbrels roll down Pennsylvania Avenue, remember that every stroke of the guillotine leads to a smaller and meaner party.
A political movement waging a continuous reign of terror against its most loyal members is a movement doomed. It appears that many “conservatives” are so used to being against things, they no longer know what they’re for.
Published in Politics
Unfortunately we don’t have the majority of people so when we utilize it we get crushed so those means are essentially powerless.
And your evidence? Frank has thoroughly beaten this drum as well or better than anyone.
Identify one, objective, quantifiable time we have been crushed. The Real Politics congressional favorability poll of 2014 was tortured until it confessed on V the K’s thread.
I think it’s important to understand the psychology here.
We have a movement that feels helpless and is used to being betrayed.
We cannot tell the difference between a strategic retreat and a Benedict Arnold.
We know on immigration at least, there is a part of the party who wants to pursue an unpopular (with the base and with the party) agenda surreptitiously.
Combine this with SCOTUS ignoring written law in favor of judge-made law (with not even a Constitutional pretext), the usual horse-trading for favors and the unwillingness to do anything but acquiesce to Obama (including preventing him from issuing a veto preemptively) on core issues like spending and the average GOP activist is saying:
“What is the point of even voting?”
And, yes, eventually it comes down to “Hillary’s worse” and all that, but it’s a defensive posture and people do want to win. If a win means a win over other members of the party, so be it.
There is a real disconnect between the people and the ruling class. If we get a Republican president, the Left is going to feel it too.
I think Frank has well demonstrated why he is right on this issue. The good thing about facts like polls is they don’t require your belief in order for them to be true.
Frank has demonstrated very nicely that in January of 2013 democrats were favored over republicans by 7 points. The biggest delta in October 2013 when 15% of the federal gov’t was on paid vacation was democrat +6.6 and at no time did the democrats exceed 50% favorable.
Republicans finished 2013 favored over democrats and went on to a landslide 2014 victory.
If that is getting crushed, may we have a few more just like it.
He also demonstrated that the trend lines completely reversed themselves during the shutdown and then resumed trending Republican once the shutdown ended. So if you’re arguing for fruitless shutdowns that accomplish nothing and last only a short time over a year before an election then….yay I guess?
As someone who I know engages in business negotiations, if you were in the Democrats shoes what incentive would you have to cave? This is something the “power of the purse” people never actually answer. Without the presidency all you’re doing to shouting into the wind.
No need for them to worry. With every tick up in Trump’s poll numbers, the likelihood of a Republican in the White House dips ever farther down.
We have angry people but it is not a movement. I feel this piece is an over amplified factoid masquerading as analysis in the service of a preconceived notion.
The last time I looked, we do not elect representatives via Facebook. We do however, let people vent anonymously on Facebook.
Come back when you have some real insight into the mood of the electorate.
By many talk radio hosts, websites, and “tea party” groups.
Given the republican’s historical conduct the democrats have no reason to acquiesce. If the issue had been pressed with appropriations languishing in the Senate it may have been different.
So why should congress even have the power of the purse then? I think a true leader can change public opinion. Use the power of the purse, shut down the government, and then get in front of every camera possible and start changing minds. A leader should take every interview possible, let the media call them evil and then talk right over interviewer to the people.
Were you not around for the last shutdown? The leadership did that and it failed.
The narrative that the party against more government is the one responsible for shutting down the government is just too easy to tell.
No, Jamie I was living in a cave in 2013 rather than negotiating business deals and what not and paid no attention to politics.
Or I could’ve been writing posts about national debt, the path to progressive ruin, etc. on Ricochet.
If I am so smart at business and negotiations that I must realize the republicans self induced inferior position then I must also be smart enough to analyze a chart filled wth statistical noise and zero correlation to actual electoral outcomes.
Please clarify am I smart or dumb?
Well of course they are. They’ve learned that there are no repercussions for doing so. And they’ve also learned that it worked.
Yeah I was around, I was even in DC. I can also say John Boehner or 5 other republican leaders tripping over themselves, is not the kind of leadership I was talking about. I’m also not talking about 20 minute press conferences on capitol hill or a Sunday talk show. I mean Obama level media saturation.
Smart people are wrong all the time.
Too much wrong here to respond to without too many words, but I’ll try.
The Depression- I presume you meant the Great Depression- didn’t occur at the beginning of the 20th century.
In any case the US national circumstances are completely different. We now have a large trade deficit, unlike then, and potential leverage tilts differentially as well.
The world’s manufacturing capacity was not destroyed circa 1930, when the Smoot-Hawley tariff inspired retaliation, and no, the hey day of American manufacturing is not now. Nearly every item from furniture to iphones to books is now made elsewhere. This is not national success, considering history.
As to why we’d want more jobs here- I suggest you ponder that.
Hmmm….why would we?
The President has the bully pulpit. Want that kind of media saturation – win the Presidency.
So you go from one accusation to another. Is this why you joined Ricochet?
Apparently only when the disagree with you.
Do you have some evidence you want to offer in support of your absolute position or do you just have more emotional arm waving and noisy year(s) old charts?
You don’t think a charismatic Speaker of the House could garner as much coverage in the social media age? It’s time to get creative.
I consider the first 3o odd years the beginning of century. But if you are being especially pedantic – no it did not happen in 1900. Sheesh.
The worlds manufacturing capacity was destroyed in WWII – this lead directly to what most people call the “hey day” of American manufacturing. When manufacturing jobs were plentiful, pay was relatively high and jobs were relatively secure.
America manufactures more now than it ever has. Technology has increased productivity to the point where fewer workers are required. Do you want to walk back the last 50 years of technological revolutions?
I ask again – why do you want jobs that manufacture furniture or iphones back in the US? Those are terrible jobs are very low pay. People are literally throwing themselves off buildings because its a nightmare in those factories. Or are you arguing that we should manufacture those things in the US at high wages in cushy jobs and the price of an iPhone can be $10,000 and my Ikea Sporkvaald will set me back another $4,000?
The most charismatic speaker I’ve ever seen was Newt and he lost his shutdown fight. I’d rather have the Presidency and just get stuff done.
Dear God, man, it was a joke. Clearly you think I’m wrong. Clearly I think you’re wrong. Clearly I think Frank demonstrated his point and you don’t. We can’t all be right, and I don’t think any of us are stupid.
Un-clench.
There are very smart people I disagree with on Ricochet and joke about it all the time. Your relentless personal attacks qualify you as neither.
When you get evidence and don’t just rely on the hard work of others come back and present it. I respectfully disagree with Frank’s conclusion, but always respect his basing his position on evidence, a valuable character trait you would be wise to emulate rather than just copying his work.
John, just be glad that you never called a wacko bird or a jackass by the highest levels of the Republican Party. Or racists as was done by Thad Cochran and those wonderful establishment Republicans in Mississippi. Mitch McConnell claimed he was going to crush the tea party. That doesn’t sound like a friendly thing. Jeb Bush just thinks we are uncivil. Richard Luger and Mark Warner supported the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Georgia in what was supposed to be a key year to get the Senate back. We did get the Senate back but apparently there was never any possibility of that accomplishing anything, only a fool would have thought so. Agonize away about Facebook commenters and pretend that we should just be one happy family.
Let’s ease up on the unpleasant exchanges. It will make for a much more pleasant conversation between everyone. Thanks.
Yeah, got that. I can’t help but notice, however, that the only people you or the WaPo cited making those charges were … wait for it … internet commenters. Yep, that’s right, folks – some people commenting on some Farcebook page or other were making silly claims from an ill-considered, extreme, and probably inconsistent point of view.
In other news, Hell hasn’t frozen over and water is still wet.
Then the WaPo article goes on to denigrate, by manufactured association, some on the right who are leery of Paul Ryan’s conservatism. Count me among them.
The rotten cherry on the top? Luis Gutierrez. Give me a break.
Jon, the only people you’ve cited labeling the FC as sellouts are loony anonymous commenters. The others are responsible critics, whom Mike DeBonis, and now you, seeks to denigrate based on nothing more than a guess at their political affiliation. If you want to carry the establishment’s water, you’re going to need a new bucket. Yours is full of holes.
problem with this post is it gives the impression principled conservative opposition to Ryan does not exist
let’s find some bad actors to deligitimize any who would object to Ryan’s coronation
We do need those nasty low skill jobs, as we are currently paying millions of people not to work, and I could live with your iPhone costing $10,000 if it came to that.
I listened to Bill Bennett on the Sean Hannity Show discuss the current disagreements among conservatives. After Hannity criticized the Republicans in Congress for refusing to use the power of the purse to reign in President Obama’s extra-constitutional actions and to roll back Obamacare, Bennett defended Boehner and McConnell because a government shutdown would be a disaster for the party. Then he said he agreed with Andrew McCarthy that the only way to restrain Obama was through impeachment, adding “but that’s impossible.”
So for Bill Bennett, mentor of Paul Ryan, failure is not just an option; it’s the only option.
No wonder the GOP establishment in Washington is known as the “Surrender Caucus.”
Of course, Bennett and many others would say that the answer to this legislative cul-de-sac is electing a Republican President. But if the Democrats in the next Congress have 41 or more votes – let alone a majority, which is possible – how will a leadership that won’t shut down the government and won’t use the nuclear option to defeat filibusters overcome opposition in the Senate?
By “reaching across the aisle” and tinkering with the transformational acts of the Obama administration?
Can you spell Comprehensive Immigration Reform?