New Congress, same old story

As a fresh swath of new, mostly Republican representatives take up their respected positions in Washington, D.C., the rhetoric on Capitol Hill has been infused with the echoes of the radical Tea Party base.

These new freshman Republicans bring the idealism of America’s right to the political bargaining table: health care repeal, cutting spending and cutting taxes.

Maybe it’s easier to sum these beliefs up as anti-Democrat.

With the moderates and American Right paranoid about some of Obama’s initiatives, these representatives won their elections with fiery criticism of the administration.

Now that elections are done, these Republican representatives, who now make a majority in the House, have taken their winning ideological conservatism to action.

But what these new congressmen and the Republican Party in general do not understand is the fact that parties cannot govern with an anti-establishment ideology.

They can’t work with Democrats and remain ideological and win future elections by shunning Democrats’ initiatives.

The Republicans are not playing the political game well.

First, they need to understand that just because they won the election does not mean Americans have given them a mandate to govern. On most issues, Americans are equally divided on whom they support.

Just because Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives does not mean the country is suddenly full off back-woods, freedom-loving, foreign-fearing, tax-loathing, gun-grabbing Republicans.

The prime example of this is the repeal of the new health care law.

Yes, it was a boon for votes to promise repeal, but does the party and John Boehner honestly think the motion has any chance of clearing the Senate?

Some may argue the symbolic nature of the motion is key, but my tax money shouldn’t be spent on symbolic gestures when there are bigger issues to tackle.

Republicans should seek out those few remaining conservative Democrats and work on ways to whittle down the health care bill.

To add insult to injury, John Boehner has made this complete repeal the first bit of business the House will vote on in the new session.   

As the Democrats learned after the election of Scott Brown to the Senate, majorities and bipartisanship are not exclusive. Republicans should stay staunch in their beliefs, but realize the reality of the political atmosphere.

During the opening session of the new Congress, John Boehner promised bipartisanship, a word foreign to most American politicians at this point. Unfortunately, bipartisanship for the past decade or so seems to only mean muscling against the other party. Compromise is dead and political bullying has taken up the empty throne.

The problem, however, remains that it takes just as long or longer to strong arm politicians into voting for legislation as it does to compromise with them. Furthermore, legislation coming out of political bullying is not pretty, as can be seen with health care legislation. And while compromise may not have created any more wholesome a document, it would have been more representative of the will of the American people.

I personally may not have been happy with the resulting legislation, but compromise means the most good for the most people.

Democrats seemingly got their act together right at their untimely end with the passage of the START treaty and the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But the way Republicans are heading, it seems another round of majority beats minority mind-set is in order.

If the new legislature plans to get anything productive done, they must leave behind this mentality.

In politics, it’s important to realize there are no victories; someone always loses. If Republicans are just looking for symbolic wins, it’s the American people who are going to lose.

Overall, I earnestly hope that this new Congress ushers in a new age of cooperation and understanding.

Unfortunately, as the political climate and Republican rhetoric stands, I see no new dawn for bipartisanship in the near future.

For the sake of the American people and the Republican Party, it would behoove these new Republican leaders to take the high road and work with Democrats on issues.

With a Democratic Senate and president, it would only make political sense. With a divided American public, it would only make realistic sense.


E-mail: mdshowal@indiana.edu