The new House Speaker was a dark horse in the mad rush to fill the position vacated after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster in a historic political play. But Mike Johnson (R.-La.) appears to be a thoughtful man, known more for his prayers than backstabbing, and sporting an interesting set of principles. They are listed on his congressional web page; he calls them the seven “core principles” of conservatism:
- Individual Freedom
- Limited Government
- The Rule of Law
- Peace Through Strength
- Fiscal Responsibility
- Free Markets
- Human Dignity
Inspiring, but the devil can bog us in details — under each rubric his elaborations sound more like fantasied ideals than anything like current practice. And for a man who got ahead by having “no enemies,” any real advancement would hardly conjure up consensus and comity.
Johnson acknowledges current government failure — at least in his fifth principle, which he explains entirely in terms of political fault: “Because government has refused to live within its means, America is facing an unprecedented debt and spending crisis. Federal debt now exceeds $33.5 trillion, and our current fiscal path is unsustainable and dangerous, jeopardizing our nation’s economic growth, stability and the security of future generations.” He goes on to express a congressional “duty to resolve the crisis.”
Yet, only standard Republican talking points are offered as back-up, with zero acknowledgment of the bipartisan difficulty of reducing spending even a smidgen.
Truth is, each of his principles is honored by the federal government only in the breach. While we may hope and pray that the new Speaker takes all of these serious enough to work to change course, we have to wonder: Does he have a prayer?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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8 replies on “A New Speaker Conjures”
Curious whether to take “honor in the breach” as Shakespeare meant it, ie that it is principles that are routinely broken while verbally denying that this is what they are doing, or else, more literally, where lackadaisical adherence has resulted in our integrity, stability, and future having been perhaps irreparably damaged (ie our line/border holding back chaos and barbarism having been breached) and all the instigators are busy covering their previous actions and denying responsibility.
The former might apply if it is not the last minute yet.
The latter if that minute has passed, like Agent Smith said in the Matrix, “your men are already dead”.
Johnson is an election denier and believes his religion is his guide. He is out-of-touch with reality. Just like all republikooks he wants to balance the budget when they are not in control. Where was the outrage when Drumpf gave trillion dollar tax cuts to the wealthy.
Will moderates stick with him?
You forgot number 8.
8. Control everything about everyone’s sex life.
Don’t expect any dramatic change to be immediate. The people who vented their wrath at Kevin McCarthy failed to recognize that the House is not in control. It’s not the House of Commons that exists in some parliamentary systems. The Senate and the White House are in Democratic hands and have just as much of a say in what gets passed into law. Johnson can play a role in what happens, but he cannot do it alone. Voters have difficult choices to make. Do we want to keep on spending until the world coffers are empty? Time will tell.
One of those that commented said that the Speaker is a member of the republikooks. What about “the other side”, the dependentocrats? They are just as responsible for our present debt crisis, in fact they are wildly pushing for even greater debt. STOP THE SPENDING now. We need CUTS.
All parties are responsible for the budget. OK, where do you want to cut? Be specific. Military budget? Sacred cow.
Republikooks only want to cut taxes when the president is a Democrat. Trump’s gifts to the wealthy and corporations was a boondoggle!
Republikooks only want to cut taxes when the president is a Democrat.
Did you ever hear of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush?
Democrats in the House cut taxes under Reagan and the GOP cut them under Bush, both Republican presidents.
Pam got too agitated, and confused her formulaic responses. She meant to write that Republicans only want to reduce deficits when the President is a Democrat.