Freshmen Republicans Should Maintain Independence, Challenge Bureaucratic Power Grabs

 

By Kevin Mooney
Attention incoming House and Senate Republicans.

You are well positioned deep inside enemy territory to operate as constitutional insurgents. This means you are not part of the club and must remain separate and distinct from your party’s leadership in order to remain effective.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell deserve the loyalty and respect of their newly elected members. Both leaders operated effectively and shrewdly against a far-left administration that has significant majorities in both houses of congress. Irresponsible, intrusive, costly legislative items were fought, and a few defeated, thanks to their principled stand.

But it is important to remember that a fair amount of daylight exists between the Republican leadership and tea party activists who are committed to the ideals of the founding period. The November 2nd vote was more of a rebuke to the Democrats and Team Obama than it was an endorsement of Republican majorities. In many respects, the tea party movement began as a rejoinder to big government Republicans who walked away from the 1994 revolution. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has the right perspective here.

Although the media portrayed the government shutdowns in the 1990s as a victory of President Clinton, Republican majorities were re-elected in consecutive elections for the first time since the 1920s, Gingrich has observed. The party’s conservative base was energized back then because it saw the shutdown as evidence Republicans were serious about controlling spending, he has explained to listeners at various speaking engagements.

Unlike their 1994 predecessors, the 2011 class of freshmen benefit can benefit the fresh experience of previous Republican majorities. Their initial curbs on spending that helped balance the budget and the successful push for welfare reform stand out as historical achievements. But after this initial success, too many GOP lawmakers became smitten with Washington, D.C. There is no sure way to resist the onset of Potomac fever, but freshman Republicans should reach out to party members who have offered up serious, detailed anti-spending plans. The Republican Study Committee in the House is a good place to start. It has been a reliable incubator for small government initiatives that operates beyond the orbit of the party leadership.
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