The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
The first chancellor of the first completely united German state is reputed to have said, “Politics is the art of compromise.” I Googled the statement and did not get a clearly definitive answer. I don’t always trust Google, so I don’t know whether Bismarck actually uttered that phrase. If he didn’t, he should have. It certainly is one of the many factors that accurately describes an important aspect of the nature of politics.
The Freedom Caucus is a group of thirty-plus Republican members of the US House of Representatives. They are as committed to the necessity of compromise as is their hero, the former president of the US and the future loser we fondly hope, in words of the first Republican and greatest of all the presidents, Mr. Lincoln, would have said were he here to say it) of the 2024 presidential election, (follow me, folks), Donald J. Trump. The FC likes to compromise as much as Elon Musk would like to drive a 1981 Yugo.
The Freedom Caucus, and other Republican politicians of their noxious ilk, were the primary cause that John Boehner, a decent man, resigning as Speaker of the House. They were also the cause of Paul Ryan, another decent man, resigning as Speaker pf the House. FC-types may have been the No. 1 negative reason that Democrats were elected to control the presidency and both houses of Congress in 2008, during the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. The FC nearly prevented Kevin McCarthy from being elected as Speaker of the House after fifteen painful, tense ballots. They definitely were involved in the ousting of Mr. McCarthy as the first Speaker ever to be ousted in US history.
The FC was instrumental in Mike Johnson being elected Speaker after a few abortive attempts to elect someone who was a much better-known entity to the American public rather than a member of the Freedom Caucus from Louisiana, whom no one knew except other members of the Freedom Caucus, several thousand people in a relatively unknown congressional district in Louisiana, and untold numbers of Christian nationalist evangelicals scattered around the ever-more-polarized Disunited States of America. The FC may soon be the bizarre explosive charge which also blows Mr. Johnson out of the Speakership. They are outstanding destroyers of political careers. It would be a providential blessing if the voters will destroy them in the spring and summer primaries.
The Freedom Caucus is not interested in compromise on any politic issues. They are interested only in victory. If they don’t achieve that ever-elusive goal in these days of endemic congressional anemia, they are more than happy to throw monkey wrenches or hand-grenades into their side or the other side of the lower but larger chamber of Congress.
The Freedom Caucus is not part of congressional government; they are opposers of congressional government. In fact, ideologically they are fundamentally opposed to any government of any sort, but especially the federal government, of which they are but a tiny fraction of the 535 Senators and Members of the House. Those who are as far to the right on the political spectrum as the FC are truly beyond the pale. They essentially are inflexible, hidebound, government-detesting libertarians. Marjorie Taylor Greene is their most noteworthy stereotype.
Another hero of the FC, Grover Norquist, said the entire federal government should exist only if can be squeezed into a broom closet. (Grover must like brooms a lot, because it would have to be an enormous closet, no matter how many brooms might be eliminated to make everything federal fit into it. Come to think of it, he and the Freedom Caucus might consider using brooms to sweep out the immense accumulation of detritus which is clogging up their cerebral neurons.)
In this week’s clash over another rancorous exercise in kicking another partial-budget down the can-filled road, Florida Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart said of FC-type Republican Members of Congress, “They might call themselves what they want. They aren’t conservatives.” Indeed they are not. They are fanatical obstructionists. They live by the hoary and horrible Republican mantra, “Lower taxes and cut spending!”
The best – and perhaps only - way for the federal government to operate effectively is to raise taxes considerably on the excessively wealthy in a major compromise, while at the time cutting spending in a major compromise. If, by some unforeseen and unforeseeable upset, the Democrats again win the presidency and both houses of Congress this coming November, they will have the same problem with “The Squad” and their ilk as the Republicans have been having for years with the Freedom Caucus and their ilk.
“Ilks” never compromise. They just stand their ground and obstruct. All ilks would detest Bismarck, who himself was not exactly a paragon of compromise, but was a remarkable politician all the same.
Joe Biden is somewhat more of a compromiser than Bismarck ever was. Whether or not he is the Democratic candidate for president, all members in both houses of Congress should do their best to resurrect the Fifties through Seventies, when both parties united to make America really great for the first time. Then we had politicians such as Joe Biden/Chuck Percy, Clare Booth Luce/Shirley Chisholm, Bob Dole/ Hubert Humphrey. It certainly didn’t happen when MAGA became the GOP mantra. If our leaders don’t do it now, who knows if it will ever happen again? America can be great only if its political leaders are all willing to compromise. - January 19, 2014
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.