Two bills moved through Congress this week. One was the maligned budget bill, the other the National Defense Authorization Act. The vote in favor of each was overwhelming. The number of republicans who cast their usual protest vote, very small. Only 19 republicans recorded NAY on the NDAA, 62 on the budget.
So what is happening to the nay sayers? Are they clearly standing up for principle and if so, whose?
It is afterall the business of Congress to fund the military and pay its bills. But what if Congress is spending too much, and paying for things people don't want, shouldn't our representatives vote against waste and abuse?
This is part of the problem facing nay sayers like Thomas Massie, Justin Amash and the rest of their small group of regular opponents to what clearly the rest of their party and the majority of Congress want. Obviously they are not in Washington to go along, or even get along so it is no wonder that they are having trouble finding support among enough others in the House to advance their own agenda items. But do they have support from the voters in their district?
Amash has drawn an opponent in Michigan who is clearly on the attack. Amash opposes the Keystone Pipeline and his challenger, Brian Ellis has made it clear, Amash is a fringe nut case. Amash was the only republican to not vote in favor of the pipeline bill.
“Justin Amash’s refusal to vote in favor of the Keystone Pipeline demonstrates he’s out of touch with West Michigan voters, and his wild accusation that the Keystone Pipeline is an earmark further reveals Justin is just a fringe outlier standing in the way of conservative solutions,” Ellis added. [Daily Caller]
Time will tell if Ellis can make the case that Amash is out of touch with his district.
Massie, who was the lone vote to make Amash the new Speaker of the House over John Boehner, has a pretty consistent record of lodging protest votes himself but so far has not drawn a challenge. Clearly Massie has not found enough people who follow his Ron Paul congressional philosophy in DC to give him the kind of support that could help him become more effective. In fact, according to some of the scuttlebutt, Massie is a big roadblock for finding the funding for the new bridge to replace the old I-75/I-71 span between Ohio and Kentucky.
Behind the scenes there are those who want to punish Massie and have determined to never let him score any benefits for the Fourth Congressional District or, at the very least, never let him share any of the credit for benefits that might help the region.
Right now though, with Congressional approval at an all time low and the flames of anger toward "the government" being whipped daily in the press, marginalized protest voters in Congress still seem to be able to market themselves as "more principled" than the rest and get the folks back home to ignore their legislative impotence.
The question is, will the pursuit of a puzzling political philosophy eventually give way to a demand for productivity, or will voters continue to let the illusion of progress substitute for tangible progress so long as their anger toward government plays out?
In a time which cries out for stability, protest could wear thin, particularly if it is always the loser in battle after battle.
Comments