This blockbuster article by Sam Stein is a must read. It would appear that all these tea party freshmen are lobbying hard to bring home the pork for their constituents all the while voting against government spending in general. Sometimes they brag about it. Sometimes, they just do it in secret. But they are doing it. Shocker, I know.
“I think members are conflicted,” explained Stu Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report and one of the most seasoned observers of national politics. “In the old days, the rules were pretty clear — you just tried to bring home the bacon. You sent out press releases, held press conferences, and got credit for getting jobs in your district … It’s more complicated now because there are pressures at odds with each other. As a U.S Representative you have, on one hand, a higher calling. You have to address runaway spending. But that is offset by the role you play for the folks back home.”
On what stone tablet was it written: As a U.S Representative you have, on one hand, a higher calling. You have to address runaway spending? He says it casually, as an article of faith, the same way everyone in the Village discusses this subject. Is it true? Uhm no, not really. First of all if you accept this premise at all, the problem is not “runaway spending”, it’s debt, which has two components, spending and taxing. Honestly, there is no law of nature that says you can only address the debt by slashing spending. Raising revenue is actually a perfectly respectable way of doing it. And anyway, the deficit is hardly the most important thing the country has to address, unemployment is. And the funny thing is that if we address unemployment, a big chunk of the deficit will disappear right along with it.
Also, “the role these people play for the folks back home” is called representative democracy. The people themselves are the “higher calling” here and they have collectively designated this person to see that their interests are protected and served. Of course these Republican Tea Partiers are terrible hypocrites. But their failing is in promoting this nonsense about “runaway spending” not securing needed federal projects in their home districts.
What might help to clarify all this would be if pundits and political analysts didn’t pass on the destructive deficit hysteria as if it actually made sense. Some might consider that a failure of their calling.