Apparently, Kevin McCarthy has withdrawn his name from the contest for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Establishmentarian Joseph Curl sees this as a sign of “disarray:”
Fox newsman Richard Grenell disagrees:
Actually, it could be both. There’s a pitched battle going on within the Republican Party. On the one side are the “go along to get along” or “collegiality first” Establishment types who feel the highest priority is to preserve the veneer of good manners...and their opportunities for cooperative porkbarreling. On the other side are the red-ass conservatives who are furious about having handed the GOP complete control of both Houses of Congress, only to see Boehner and McConnell act as if the Democrats still held the majority. That’s enough strife for a lot of “disarray.”
However, there would be no “disarray” if it weren’t for a surging grassroots anger toward the Establishment, personified by McConnell, Boehner, and McCarthy, over their aversion to asserting their majorities, such that at least the Democrat opposition would have to vote on the record against policy changes the electorate has demanded. Boehner might not have been pressured to end his tenure as Speaker had he and McConnell contrived to force such votes – and to force Barack Obama to veto bills passed with healthy majorities in both Houses.
For quite some time, the GOP Establishment has been more afraid of what Barack Obama will say and the New York Times will print about the party than what an enraged electorate might do should Republican spinelessness continue. In part, that’s the fault of loyal Republican voters, who’ve regarded continuing support of Republican candidates as mandatory despite the party’s execrable performance. Reinforcement does, after all, increase the rewarded behavior. But given that the 2010 and 2014 “wave” elections were unambiguous about voters’ desires for a reversal of Obamunist policies, one might think that even persons utterly congealed in their inanition would get the message...especially after Dave Brat completely displaced Majority Leader Eric Cantor from Congress.
Moral: Don’t be afraid of some temporary disarray. Chaos always precedes order. When the problem to be solved is an order that has lasted too long and must be destroyed, the embrace of a temporary disorder is right and necessary.
I am not bright enough to understand chaos theory. Mathematics was probably my weakest subject, and I only made it as far as calculus before I gave up. But, if I understand the least little bit of it, chaos theory appears to suggest - sort of like trying to understand God's plan for us, perhaps? - that there is indeed a purpose and a path through what _appears_ to be chaotic, or at least beyond our understanding. Like so much of life :-)
ReplyDeleteI submit that, whatever chaos we see or experience in the dynamics of control of the Senate and House, it bodes well for those of us who wish to see the "Old Guard" Republicans removed from the reins of control in Congress. Not only is it indeed right and necessary, it is to be welcomed and cheered on. When the dust settles, not only will our fortunes be at least _partly_ improved (depending upon who replaces Boehner, McConnell, and McCarthy that could change to "greatly improved"), it will also demonstrate that the _system_ of control is still subject to our will. THAT is a condition to be greatly admired.