Time and distance often clarify realities that are difficult to see when you are in the middle of the battle. The lessons learned from the recent speaker fight should be clear: nothing will change in Washington unless a few members have the courage to stand together to save America.
Today, as I reflect on the recent Republican Speaker fight ten years after I left the Senate (and almost 20 years since I left the House), the root causes of the divisions inside Congress are now obvious.
When I was in the arena, most of the fights emanated from real differences in policy goals. Democrats and Republicans had very different goals, and Republicans were divided by more subtle differences between moderates and conservatives. But the divisions we see in Congress today result from more systemic – and simple – differences.
The recent chaos in Congress, and specifically within the Republican Party, is caused by starkly different motivations of two widely divergent groups in the House and the Senate: those who are there to save America and those who don’t believe America needs saving. All the policy differences, as well as the infighting among Republicans, are driven by an opposing worldview of these two groups.
Those who are in Congress to save America believe our country is on a catastrophic fiscal, economic, cultural, political and national defense course. Massive increases in spending and debt will soon result in the lose of confidence in our dollar and a worldwide panic to trade the dollar for other currencies and assets – all with exponential decreases in the value of the dollar at home.
The Democrats’ climate change agenda is killing America’s energy supply and destroying our primary means of production and prosperity. Democrats, along with all of America’s mediating institutions, are attempting to replace proven traditional Judeo-Christian values with Godless secular-socialistic utopian ideals that have failed throughout history.
The Democrats have opened our borders to millions of criminals, terrorists, drug and human traffickers, and illegal workers who – if Democrats get their wish – will soon be voting for the political party that promises the most stuff. And both parties continue to plow extravagant amounts of money into our wasteful, bureaucratic, and ineffective military complex that is more intent on paying for abortion and sex changes than defending our country.
The Congressmen and Senators who are there to save America are usually called conservatives, and lately, far-right rebels and traitors. Most Republicans call themselves “conservative” but there are less than 100 in the House and 20 in the Senate who are there to save America. These members can be identified by a sense of urgency and the courage to take action now.
The Congressmen and Senators who are in Congress to save America don’t have enough votes to pass any legislation or to stop big spending bills. Leadership always has enough votes to pass any bill that increases spending if the increases are enough to satisfy the Democrats and the “wise” Republicans. The only power America’s saviors have is to use a few points of leverage – government shutdowns, continuing resolutions, debt ceiling fights and the Speaker’s race – to force the leadership to listen to their concerns. This is always ugly.
In all my years in the House and Senate, it was never the right time or the right way to take a stand against all the powerful forces in Washington. Whenever we disturbed the status quo, the leadership of both parties would be joined by the media and the lobby community in demanding we allow the gravy train to continue toward oblivion. We just witnessed these powerful forces at work.
Matt Gaetz and his courageous band of patriots are being smeared as “traitors” that caused chaos, but it would have been far worse to do nothing. Their actions created a mess, but not the catastrophic destruction of America. Matt Gaetz is in Congress to save America. His act created an opportunity for Republicans to elect Mike Johnson as their new Speaker. Johnson is a solid conservative – a man of integrity and faith. Speaker Johnson believes our country is in trouble and he will do everything he can to save America.
Only time will tell if the change in Speakers will make any difference. Speaker Johnson will still have to deal with the Republicans and Democrats who don’t think America needs saving.
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