Boehner Needs To Lead Not Whine

For one, I am already getting sick and tired of Boehner and his mealy mouth leadership. He talks a lot but when it came to reducing spending in line with what those dreaded Tea Party folks wanted, he caved like a starch less suit. (One could say he is an empty suit!) He seemingly does  not understand what the American public said in the election of 2010.  We want change, substantial change, meaningful change. At present, we are not getting it from the Republican Party.

The past election was one of  real change in contrast to the Obama election. Americans came out by the millions to demand their leaders cut spending and get the budget under control. Neither of these goals have been attempted nor do they seem to be on Boehner's radar.  It appears as if he wants to get along with Obama and have a congenial relationship.

It is not time for a friendly relationship with the President, it is time to take the hard steps to reduce government with a scalpel at best and with a sledge hammer if necessary. We do not have the time to dink around with niceties. Things must change and they must change very soon. If not, we will be in such trouble that our "bankers" will take the control away from us as they did with Greece. Time is limited, very limited and severe and sometimes brutal cuts must be taken.

That is why I was so impressed with the following article by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown. It was published on the GOPUSA  website today. You may not agree with all of their suggestions, I know that I do not. However, at least they are talking about taking the necessary actions required by a responsible government.
We need to get Boehner's attention before we re-elect Obama for another four years, something I definitely do not want.

What do you think? Your comments are welcome.



Brown: Boehner Strategy on Budget Will Rescue Obama


By Floyd and Mary Beth Brown March 21, 2011 12:00 pm

 House Speaker John Boehner is falling for a trap, hook, line and sinker--and the Republican presidential nominee will reap the results of Boehner’s folly. The single biggest issue facing America is the inability of the Federal Government to pay its bills. The Deficit for the month of February was $ 222.5 billion dollars. That is a record $7.9 billion day. And how does John Boehner respond?

First Boehner makes it clear he wants Republicans to raise the debt ceiling. Then he strong arms Republican members of Congress to pass a continuing resolution because he fears a government shutdown. The price he pays for his peace with Obama is insignificant budget cuts. Finally, to make himself look tough after being a wimp on spending, Boehner is talk, talk, and talk about entitlement reform. Changing the contract on Social Security is the single least popular budget cut and it places him squarely opposed to Obama on the one issue the President knows he can use to demagogue himself to re-election. Boehner is playing into Obama’s hands.

Americans want spending reform, and they want it quickly. Boehner should be willing to accept a shutdown of the Federal Government. The US Congress is given the purse and spending strings by the US Constitution and he should use them. Continuing resolutions are bad government policy because they fail to selectively reauthorize spending.

Conservative pundit Erick Erickson believes Boehner is actually “playing” conservatives. He explains it this way: "Conservatives are, therefore, getting played by Republicans leaders in the House. Compounding that, House Republicans are making insignificant spending cuts and refusing to pick a fight over Obamacare. They do not, under any stretch of the imagination, want a government shutdown. House Leaders know the only way to shut down Obamacare is to shut down the government and negotiate Obamacare out of existence. So they’d rather keep Obamacare."

Instead of playing the political light weight, Boehner needs to stand and fight. He needs to stare down Obama and the Senate, furloughing federal workers just as has happened to state and local government workers. Boehner should send the US Senate a series of appropriations bills to keep important agencies operating in the name of public safety while allowing spending to lapse for nonessential and unconstitutional government programs.

And he also should avoid talk of changing Social Security and Medicare. Instead, Republicans should bluntly say they will eliminate every single program of government before they will violate the contract the federal government has made on Social Security. It is morally wrong for the government of the United States to have accepted what are essentially old age pension premiums, and now attempt to not live up to the contract.

Americans may have misunderstood the nature of Social Security since it was founded. They were told it was an insurance program. With insurance, you pay a premium and that premium is invested by the insurance firm until the day the money is needed. The premiums are reflected on every paycheck’s stub or wage statement in America.

Congress as the trustee of these resources may have in the past wildly spent away this money. The trust fund doesn’t exist and now the bills are coming due, but this doesn’t change the moral imperative to pay people who have expected these old age pensions.

Finally, announce that we will no longer borrow money and force America to right size government by operating on pay- as- you- go system. This doesn’t mean we won’t pay our debts. It merely says we won’t borrow more money. Don’t raise the debt ceiling.

Let Obama defend all these multitude of programs, subsidies and special interest payments. But do not touch the programs Americans have paid premiums for most of their lifetimes to receive. If Speaker Boehner focuses on trying to reform Social Security he will fail, and in the process, re-elect Barack Obama. Instead he should cut the spending that is politically possible to cut.