While I have been more amused than concerned about the machinations of the butt-end of the House of Representatives, this article about the various groups that just successfully deposed Boehner, aborted McCarthy, and are eager to stage a coup that will shrinkwrap the Federal government to the size of a package of hotdogs has me seeing them with more respect. Well, maybe that’s not quite the word. It’s more the feeling I might have had in elementary school if the usual schoolyard bully had showed up with ten others behind him, all ready to rumble and with sticks.
First major point: they constitute about 80 members, not the 30-50 we’ve heard about (three groups, not just the Freedom Caucus, but two others–the Liberty Caucus and the Tea Party Caucus) and the memberships are detailed in the article. I hadn’t yet seen names; now I have.
Second major point: the article includes a link to the perform-or-die document that all three caucuses require would-be members to sign. Many of the provisions of the Questionnaire have to do with making sure these guys don’t get put in time out, get their share of cookies from the NRCC, or tell the teacher (the other members) if they see any members misbehaving. But they also say (and they have the muscle to do it, apparently) they would force the government to shut down rather than fund any of the following: Planned Parenthood, immigration (they call it “unconstitutional amnesty”), the Iran deal, or Obamacare.
So they truly are willing to shut down the federal government because they don’t want poor women to be able to get gynecological care, they want to throw 11 million Mexicans out of the country, they don’t want negotiation in the Middle East, and they don’t want poor people to get any medical care at all. And with these numbers, they can do it.
All of a sudden this is not looking so amusing.
Em Turner Chitty 