Maverick Jones

 

            Walter Jones, our Perquimans County NC representative in the U.S. Congress, rarely makes headlines— except when he is out to prove that he is a maverick with unconventional ideas. Some of them have been strange, if not downright nutty, like the time he pushed for a memorial to dogs on the National Mall. Or the time he proposed that the French fries in the congressional cafeteria be renamed Freedom fries in protest of France’s support of the Iraq War.

            As a member of the libertarian Liberty Caucus, Jones has consistently earned some of the lowest ratings from the American Conservative Union. In fact, he is one of the very few Congressmen to be stripped of a major committee assignment for defying party leadership.

            Here are three recent examples: he bucked Republican Party policy on minimum wage; he demanded that President Trump release his tax returns; and he refused to support the House health care bill. Now he’s at it again by becoming the first Republican lawmaker to call for the removal of Kevin Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee. Enough! Nunes is a patriot and the key to getting to the bottom of the Trump-Russia connection and the Obama administration’s surveillance of Trump’s transition team. Nunes needs to be allowed to do his job—without backbiting from Democrats, the Trump-hating media, and disloyal Republicans.   

            Walter Jones does not reflect the views of his Republican constituents. A former Democrat, he has repeatedly been invited by Democrats to re-cross the aisle. Judging by his positions on key issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. If he remains a Republican, I hope a good candidate will come forward to oppose him in the 2018 primaries. It is time for this maverick to vacate his seat and enjoy retirement playing with his dogs and eating Freedom fries.

Crossroads

            President Trump’s budget is going nowhere; it will not survive the slings and arrows of Congress. It is instructive, however, in spelling out the President’s view of the role of the executive branch of the federal government. First and foremost is the protection of the citizens of this country. Hence, his proposed increases for defense, homeland security, and veterans’ affairs.

            Conversely, he sees a diminished role for federal agencies in areas best managed at the state and local levels. The budget's prime target is the EPA, which has issued thousands of regulations in the last eight years governing everything from smokestacks to puddles. 

             In short, President Trump’s budget is a rejection of the socialist ideology that prefers all decision-making to be in the hands of the government rather than with the citizens directly affected by those decisions. It reflects the conservative principle that, except for national defense, the government should not be doing for people what they could be doing for themselves.

            There is not much point in discussing individual line items in the budget, because Republican legislators will gut proposals that defund their pet projects, while the Democrats will instinctively reject outright any ideas put forth by a president they despise. What will remain at the end of this fruitless exercise is the question American voters will have to answer: Is the President taking us in the right direction?

            A parallel proposal is about to be placed before Congress: Repeal and Replace ObamaCare.  After all the haggling between moderate and conservative Republicans, a bill will be voted on by the full House. Most Republicans will vote for it, if only to deliver on their campaign promise. But if enough mavericks in the Senate vote No, it will die, and Americans will blame everybody for subjecting them to another year of the ObamaCare monstrosity.

            If Repeal and Replace fails, tax reform most likely will fail also. Maybe the only survivor will be a trillion-dollar infrastructure spending bill, because legislators love to spend money. To hell with the debt. And if you think this will put President Trump and Congress in a mood to begin a necessary reform of entitlements, guess again.

            We are at a crossroad. What happens in the next few months will decide the fundamental direction of this country. Nothing less.

No Equivalence

            A reader reacted to my recent post on the obstructionism of Congressional Democrats with this question: “Wasn’t GOP obstruction what happened for the last eight years with Obama?”  Here is my response.

            First, the Republican Senate did not prevent Obama from installing his Cabinet with the kind of obstruction and delaying tactics we’ve seen from the Democrats since the election. Second, the opposition from Republican supporters was never marked by the kind of violence we see today among protesters. Third, when Obama enjoyed a 60-vote majority in the Senate during his first two years in office, he was able to put through legislation like ObamaCare, while Republicans were powerless to prevent it. Fourth, as much as Republicans opposed Obama’s policies in Congress, their own proposals were repeatedly thwarted by Harry Reed; today’s Congressional Democrats obstruct, but offer no proposals of their own. Fifth, when Obama was frustrated by a failure of Congress to pass legislation he favored, he turned to executive orders, many of which were unconstitutional and got reversed by the courts.

             Equivalence? Hardly.

The Party of Hate

            The behavior of Democrats and their leftist cohorts in the media is positively disgusting, if not outright unpatriotic.  It goes beyond hostility to President Trump and his administration.  The “Party of Love” has clearly morphed from the party of sore losers to the “Party of Hate.” Evidence is mounting.

            Since Donald Trump’s election to the presidency, Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer have done everything they can to prevent the president from confirming his cabinet picks.  Except for a few moderates like Senator Manchin of West Virginia, they have been unified in their opposition to every action taken and every proposal put forth by the Administration.  They vow not to cooperate with Congressional Republicans in reforming health care, taxes, and immigration.  “Resist” is now their battle cry, obstruction their weapon of choice.

            I have never been a big fan of the oafish and thin-skinned man now occupying the Oval Office, and I don’t agree with all his policies. But he is my president, and I support his efforts to improve our economy, our security, and our standing in the world. Constructive criticism is healthy, but the opposition has been obdurately uncompromising. Rather, it is bent on destroying the object of its hatred.

            How unfortunate it is that the Left now promotes unhinged attacks on the freedom of speech at town hall meetings and centers of independent thinking like Berkley. It is hard for me to accept that our First Amendment protects flag-burning amid posters accusing the president of being a sexist, a racist, and a homophobe, not to mention a Nazi, a Fascist, and a member of the KKK. We should not be surprised when young anarchists take their cue from members of Congress who baselessly call for the president’s impeachment or who debase their office by shamelessly referring to his Cabinet as scumbags.

            Democrats owe the office of the presidency a modicum of courtesy, if not for their own self-respect, at least for the people of this nation who value common decency.