Bush faces what students of President Ronald Reagan’s presidency might call a “PATCO” moment. PATCO, you’ll remember, was the air traffic controllers’ union that flouted the law banning strikes by government unions by declaring an illegal walkout during Reagan’s first year in office. Unlike his predecessors (who tolerated illegal strikes by government unions such as the Postal Service), Reagan stood up to the lawbreakers and promptly fired all 13,000 controllers. Those who didn’t return within 48 hours were permanently banned from federal service.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom of the day, our aviation system didn’t grind to a screeching halt. Replacements were quickly trained and hired. Most importantly, Reagan set a precedent for decisiveness and principled action that paid dividends throughout his two terms in office.
Now, conservatives are urging Bush to adopt a similarly principled stand and sign an executive order directing federal officials to pay no heed to earmarks that appear magically in conference reports or are exceedingly vague. They argue that Bush, re-elected in 2004 with over 62 million votes, should seize the principled high ground befitting our national chief executive and do what he can to end this out-of-control practice.
It is precisely the role our Founding Fathers envisioned for the president.
Lawmakers, of course, represent narrower constituencies -- Rep. Hobson, for example, was re-elected in 2006 with only 138,000 votes; legendary porker Sen. Ted Stevens won his statewide election with the support of a mere 179,000 Alaskans. Just how much so is jarringly evident in Hobson’s pathetic assessment of his 18-year congressional career. “I’m probably more proud of this earmark,” he said of the SuperAmerica gas station largesse, “and what it will do in the future than anything I’ve ever done.”
When veteran lawmakers are reduced to uttering such inanities, it’s high time to stop the madness.