Your responses

what did you say?

Yesterday’s column generated more commentary than any single piece I have written on Actions Create Consequences. Make my day! Thank you so much so let me respond to a couple of points that I have not yet hit.

I meant to say AOC would be entering her fourth term, thus reaching up to eight years in office if reelected in 2024. I was so passionate yesterday that my typing did not catch up with my brain. While I do read things carefully, I also saw what I thought I was saying occasionally as we all do. I am aware, however, that she did not arrive with McCarthy and Jordan in 2007. Thank you to the couple of you who mentioned to this to me.

No, I am not putting the two parties on a par for their behaviour. I attempt not to pursue partisanship in my columns because I don’t think the Democrats have always been appropriate for governing historically. Democrats’ accumulated arrogance after controlling the House over almost four decades opened the door to the 1994 ‘Contract for America’ historic losses. Those losses, however, originated from policy choices increasingly out of sync with their voters’ priorities.

The hubris or antipathy to governing (depending which explanation one prefers) evident in a small segment of the GOP is different, as I discussed with yet another reader this morning. I don’t see their interest in governing while my interlocutor opines the issue is that they only see their way as acceptable. I can see that perspective and my analysis could be wrong but our arguments result in the same effect: complete dysfunction for the body without anxiety about the opportunity costs. We are currently most aware this is paraylsing the body, without a fully-empowered Speaker holding the gavel, to address President Biden’s aid requests for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

The even more crucial issue is the budget clash over the next month. This is not optional: the U.S. Government cannot function without a budget. Based on the controversy resulting in Kevin McCarthy’s removal, these Chaos Coalition members will fight any bipartisan Continuing Resolution. The image coming to mind is messy, nothing but messy.

My latter interlocutor also viewed the entire condundrum as the Republicans misunderstanding the ideas of leadership among team players that is a more horizontal approach than the more traditional top down management. That is certainly a possible explanation for dozens of frustrated Republican Members rejecting Jordan during their final caucus vote. These Members clearly resented the purported heavy-handed tactics while proving apprehensive about how a Jordan-run House of Representatives would operate.

We are still in an unmitigated mess, however one looks at it. Numerous Republican Members and their staffs acknowledge that. Now what?

Thank you for reading my reactions and the feedback you might have missed. Actions most definitely Create Consequences and this measured, thoughtful online conversation is what we need, in my view. I hope you will be back tomorrow. Please feel free to circulate this column if you know someone who would enjoy it. Better, think about a subscription to support these conversations.

It’s been dramatic, windy skies over Annapolis today. Air Force beat Navy about a mile and a half from here. In a rare event, the wind was blowing so we could hear the public address system loud and clear.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend. Be well and be safe. FIN