Change is coming to Washington, especially for Republicans. It has been clear for some time that the old ways are not serving the people’s interests.
The first sign was the so-called “Tea Party” revolution in 2010. At the time, it was a reaction to President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress, who had overplayed their hand in passing a massive overhaul of 20% of our economy (Obamacare) without Republican support, and sleazy backroom deals with moderate Democrats and allies like Unions and government employees (to avoid its requirements).
In addition, many were upset with the way Wall Street, banks, and US car manufacturers were bailed out of the 2008 financial crisis, while none of the bad actors went to jail, and the common people were left to fend for themselves in the ensuing weak recovery.
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While the Tea Party crowd, mostly in the House of Representatives, made it much harder for Republican leadership to govern, Washington continued on the same trajectory as if nothing had happened. Thus, the angst of revolution continued in the form of the “Make America Great Again” campaign for Donald Trump as President. Electing Trump was a message from the American people, in their infinite wisdom, communicating their disgust as a grand impeachment of everything and everyone in Washington.
It was, in effect, the American people telling Hillary Clinton and every other member of Congress, the Executive Branch and Governors everywhere – the entire entrenched elite political class – that their services were no longer required. The American people were telling their leaders (who hardly listened) to seek a new model and new leadership, drain the swamp and bring about fundamental change in the workings of the people’s government.
But the entrenched elite didn’t hear the message and proceed to fight back with aplomb. From the beginning, the Clinton Campaign, the CIA, the FBI and many other institutions and bad actors in Washington began a coordinated effort to destroy candidate and later President Trump, whom they blamed for the carnage, choosing to ignore their part in the play.
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These “deep state” actors planted fake stories, based on gossip and innuendo with their allies in news media to set off a Russian moral panic that continues to this day. Rather than getting the change we needed in Washington, we got a four-year food fight, each passing year becoming more dirty and more hyperbolic. To listen now to some in the media and the Democratic Party, the entire Republican Party is now run by their Slenderman, Vladimir Putin. And so President Trump was impeached twice and lost the next election in 2020.
Meanwhile, the regular workings of Congress have completely shut down. Congress no longer passes budgets nor appropriations bills, rubberstamping huge deficit spending and payoffs for cronies via Continuing Resolutions and Omnibus packages. Congress no longer declares War nor makes any effort to curtail out-of-control warmongering Presidents, with our military engaged in dozens of active shooting wars across the globe.
Congress no longer pretends to be concerned about ballooning debt and deficits that will surely bankrupt the Treasury. By any commercial standard, the US Government is already bankrupt, six times over. Congress no longer writes and passes legislation, preferring to allow the Executive branch and the Courts to determine the outcome of our major political issues. Thus, they avoid controversy to ensure their own reelection, which the people have come to understand is all these Congresspeople care about.
This brings us to Mitch McConnell, who, more than any American, can take credit for the rotting cesspool just described. Senator McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and has served as the Republican Leader of the Senate (as Minority and Majority leader) since 2006 – making him the longest-serving party leader of that body in history. He has run the Senate for 18 years, perhaps the longest and most influential leader in Washington ever.
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He, more than President Trump, deserves credit for the conservative makeup of the Supreme Court and many other policy wins throughout the years. No one maintains such longevity as a political leader without being a clever tactician, a smooth negotiator, and a slick operator. Mitch McConnell is all of those things.
This means he, more than anyone, with the possible exception of Nancy Pelosi, deserves the lion’s share of the credit for everything that’s right and wrong with the current state of the United States.
Yesterday, Senator McConnell announced he intended to resign his leadership position – nine months from now and after the next critical election. This is perhaps one last shrewd move by the wise, old leader, ensuring he will have his hand on the wheel to direct Republican campaigns for the Senate, as well as shepherd some last-minute slop through the Senate. The corrupt $100B foreign aid bill still needs to be passed to enrich Mr. McConnell’s friends in the defense industry one last time.
It is also a shrewd move (to announce a resignation in the future) because all signs indicate that many Republican Senators no longer support his leadership. It is likely that he would have been Kevin ‘McCarthy’d’ sooner rather than later, so the old master beat his detractors to the punch while maintaining his power.
Many of the new guard Republicans in the Senate were very unhappy with the Leader’s handling of the so-called “Border Bill” which was negotiated in secret without their input. That bill ended up being the largest foreign-aid bill ever, sending $100B to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and Gaza, but mostly spending this money we don’t have on defense industry weapons. I continue to wonder why our Defense Budget is $800B but every time we ask the military to do something it invariably costs more. How is it that the insane amount of money we spend on our Armed Forces doesn’t include the ability to ever use them for something without paying more?
So the three main leaders of Republicans in Washington DC have been ousted within the past six months – Speaker McCarthy, Republican National Committee Chairman Ronna McDaniel (Mitt Romney’s niece who has presided over the loss of eight governorships, four Senate seats and 20 House seats since taking that position in 2018), and now Senate Leader McConnell. The silent revolution of Republican power in Washington is almost complete. It is time for the next generation of leaders to break the terrible cycle the old leaders wrought.
Here are the six priorities this new leadership must address immediately:
- Secure the border – bring illegal crossings down to zero. Then, work to develop a new immigration system that selects and promotes the best of the world to join our national experiment.
- Balance the Budget – cut spending and signal a path to a balanced budget, easing future inflation, money printing, and taking pressure off of interest rates
- Introduce a Constitutional Amendment in Congress for term limits for the House and Senate
- Pass a law that severely restricts the ability of Congresspeople and other Government officials to lobby Congress or to join companies with which they have significant interactions within their official duties
- Create a Church-style Committee to review the entire military-industrial complex and intelligence community’s grip on Washington and recommend legislation to cut and restructure the entire apparatus to return its mission, goals and abilities to serve the American people
- Create a second blue ribbon panel to recommend a 20% cut in federal spending across the board
Accomplish those six things, and our country will be on the right track again. Let’s get to work.
Justin Weller is the Founder and Editor of The Country, and host of the podcast The Country with Justin Weller. Prior, he was a general manager and sales leader in startup and Big Tech firms, interned on Capitol Hill, and was a Contributing Editor at mxdwn.com. This piece is republished from The Country
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Tampa Free Press.
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