Where are the GOP Honey Badgers?
The national fight over the looming implementation of Obamacare has been headquartered right here in North Carolina over the past two days. Indeed, longer than that, as nearly three weeks ago freshman Congressman Mark Meadows of NC’s 11th District began circulating Utah Senator Mike Lee’s letter calling for a defunding effort that would be tied to any budget continuation.
The discussion has exploded since Tuesday when Mecklenburg’s own Chuck Suter of ConstitutionalWar.org released a now viral video from a Monday evening townhall forum at Queens University in Charlotte that pinned down 9th district Congressman Robert Pittenger into admitting he will not support Lee and Meadows efforts to defund.
Damage control was immediately begun by Pittenger and staff, realizing that the hornet’s nest had just been swatted. By early afternoon on Tuesday, this infographic was being circulated on local Republican Facebook groups, in a sense drawing attention to the controversy.
Pittenger Infographic. Click for full size.
The infographic was followed by this link to Rep. Pittenger being interviewed on the Mike Huckabee radio show.
In both of these instances, Pittenger’s response meme is to paint himself as “responsibly opposed to Obamacare”. He outlines the multitude of bills he has co-sponsored or voted for that would weaken the President’s signature program.
I will give the man an approving nod for those attempts.
However, here is an on the fly definition of what we in politics refer to as “spin”: The fine line between what a politician tells you and the full story.
The truth of the matter is that leverage is important when you are in overall minority status. Passing all the bills in the world is meaningless if the other side of the debate can avoid having to deal with your objections.
To wit…
House: “We vote to defund Obamacare!”
Senate: “Ain’t that cute. We don’t.”
Fade to black.
This is what makes this particular debate so important. Those who desire to save the country from Obamacare by any means necessary recognize a couple of things and are willing to leverage this strength into actually accomplishing something.
First, the individual mandate takes effect in October! That’s right. This thing is here, now. That zombie you thought you could outrun is right in front of you. It’s happening. The time for “responsibly defunding” is over. This is DEFCON 1 and it’s time to take this matter seriously.
Second, the American people are behind them. Fear tactics about future elections if a government shutdown is allowed fall on deaf ears when as much as 77% of the public opposes the individual mandate. Republicans who play their cards right, stick together, and stick up for principle have a lot to gain in terms of goodwill from the public.
If Congressman Pittenger would spend as much time educating people about the President and Senate’s desire to shut down the government in order to save the unpopular Obamacare as he has in trying to convince his own Party that now is not the time to fight, we’d be well on our way to successfully utilizing the leverage that attaching defunding to the continuing resolution brings.
The desire to not fight based on an assumption that Republicans will be blamed for a shutdown when it will in fact be the Democrats who do so is a cop-out. In fact, after the 1995 shutdown, the GOP did get blamed. They then picked up two Senate seats in the 1996 election. So much for negative ramifications.
Pittenger, in his Huckabee interview, kept insinuating that part of the danger of a shutdown would be that the military would lose their paychecks. This is disingenuous and exactly the type of fear mongering I would expect from Democrats over social security reform.
The truth of the matter is, according to MilitaryAdvantage.com, “if the past is any indication, active duty service members are not likely to miss any paychecks.” In fact, military pay was specifically exempted from the ten shutdowns that occurred between 1980 and 1996.
Ultimately, any Congressman not willing to stand up for the people against Obamacare has no reason to keep their job. Pointless resolutions mean nothing and are just excuses to look good and keep those donations pouring in.
We have some leverage with the continuing resolution. Failure to use that leverage gives the Democrats exactly what they want…a population dependent on government for healthcare. This is our last chance to stop it. Once implemented, starting in October, Obamacare like Social Security and Medicare isn’t going to be “defunded responsibly”.
Ronald Reagan said it best during a 1975 speech to the Young Americans for Freedom.
“There are some that say we should form a new third party. May I suggest an alternative to that. Let’s have a new first party. A Republican Party raising a banner of bold colors, no pale pastels. A banner instantly recognizable as standing for certain values which will not be compromised. Yes, we must broaden our base, but let’s broaden it the way we did in 1972. Because those Americans…Democrats and Independents and Republicans are still out there looking for a banner around which to rally. And we have what they want. What they’re seeking. But they don’t know that. And sometimes I wonder if we know it.”
I’m looking for representation that consistently stands up for principle and isn’t frightened into obsolescence by the media and by the power brokers within the GOP looking for that next big check.
Indeed, I’m looking for some Republican honey badgers.
Yep, a two year old viral YouTube video showcases a very valuable lesson.
Below is the clip, if you are opposed to strong language, do not watch.
If the media spin is your concern, grow a pair. Be a GOP honey badger. Be strong, educate the public, trust your grassroots, empower your social media, and above all…”don’t give a S*%&”!!!
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