Dakota Beacon

There was something else on my mind to write about this week, but the shifting sands of Capitol Hill brought to the fore a long-awaited opportunity.  For those residing on the dark side of the moon, I mean the capitulation of Obama’s self-proclaimed “best friend”, House Speaker John Boehner.  The announcement as conveyed to the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio was received with cheers and a standing ovation.

The reactions of our political pros were varied.  Kevin McCarthy is getting his shoes polished and suit pressed to take over.  Paul Ryan, Boehner’s faithful spaniel, called his departure “an act of pure selflessness” and by the way, doesn’t want the ball.  Closer to home, a North Dakota friend says McCarthy’s takeover is a “done deal”, in a perfect sense of cynicism.

Predictably, the feeling on the Right was mixed – relieve at Boehner’s leaving, but a realistic concern.  Did he trade off the voice of Congress for an opportunity to land a hefty lobbying job?  Time will have to tell.  We can’t help but wonder, though.  He has surely pu7nished any independent voices within Congress.  He has blocked every attempt to stop Obama’s programs, no matter how devastating they were to our country, and despite well-known and overwhelming sentiment against them from the Republican grassroots that gave him his majority and Speakership.  Why?  Well, we are all counseled to look to our future and provide for it. 

We can all speculate on why Boehner’s gone at last.  A friend suggested that the Republican Party organization welcomed it because with leadership exemplified by Boehner’s, the two-party system is all but moribund.  My friend says he has been refusing to donate and let the Party know that his donations will go to Tea Party candidates and causes, not the Party, as long as its leadership is not standing up.  The meteoric and totally senseless rise of the sideshow that is Donald Trump might have spur4red the change.  The House conservatives themselves were ready to mutiny.

But whatever the genesis of Boehner’s decision, there is one thing we absolutely must do NOW.  We must exert all the pressure we can muster to ensure that Boehner is not succeeded by Boehner II – which would be the case of McCarthy steps into the job.  In other times we might accept with some complacency a hum-drum service club type of order succession to the top job.  Not here, not now.  We must not allow the Republican Party to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by settling for anything less than the conservative leadership we need.  McCarthy must not be the next Speaker.

We, American Conservatives, have been given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to right the course of the ship of state.  There are real leaders in Congress right now, ready to take the reins – men who will not make the kinds of “deals” that have led to the near-destruction not only of the Republican Party but the United States of America.

My picks:  Daniel Webster  (FL) – he put himself forward at the beginning of this term, when the going was tough; Louie Gohmert (TX) – who is saying “no” at this point, but has shown courage and leadership in the House; Tom McClintock (CA) – he would be ideal for North Dakotans in matters of energy and limiting the tyranny of the EPA, and he would never make “deals” to destroy oil development; Mark Meadows (NC) – the man who again, and successfully, called on the Speaker to vacate the chair and started the ball rolling; John Fleming (LA) – a man of principle who once put Congress on the spot to accept Obamacare for themselves if they were to impose it on the rest of us.  There is no shortage of real leadership in the House of Representatives among Conservatives, and no want of courage.

But we must stay focused on this.  Some are ready to take on Mitch McConnell next and clean up the Senate.  We need to finish this task first.  Let’s not divide our attention.  Our nation has been brought down by the kind of leadership we’ve seen in Boehner.  The last thing we should tolerate is to see another like him rise to the Speakership and take us back to Square One.  De we want to see more funding for Planned Parenthood?  Capitulation to Obamacare?  Negligence of the crisis on our border?  Unsustainable immigration from the Middle East and Asia?  Another economic disaster? 

One thing is certain:  the conservative Republican base will disappear altogether if Boehner is at long last replaced by a man who will continue his policies and the pattern of abandoning the conservative principles that will save and reinvigorate America.  This would be far worse than leaving Boehner in office.  It would seal the public’s poor opinion of the party.  But, on the other hand, a strong conservative leader who will return to and uphold the Constitution and exert the proper force of Congress in our national government will serve to dispel those doubts and to vindicate legitimate Republican presidential candidates rather than puff up the hot air of the Trump campaign.

Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert put it succinctly and eloquently:  “America is at an incredibly perilous time in our history.  We need bold leadership more than ever, and the speaker has graciously given us that opportunity.”  We cannot afford to waste it.