First let me say that I am a conservative, and I didn’t vote for Trump in the primaries. I did vote for him in the general election. However, I think I now understand why Trump voters don’t like conservatives.
Yesterday, the Ryan-Trump ACA repeal and replacement bill went down to defeat in large part due to opposition from the so-called House Freedom Caucus. This is a group of 40 some conservative members of the House of Representatives.
The HFC is a group of well-meaning members, and I believe they are conservative, but they were never cut out to be legislators. They belong at think tanks where they can do studies and write white papers, give speeches, organize policy luncheons and other such non-productive activities.
They don’t have the ability to affect policy, or to govern or persuade. They can only talk, pontificate, and oppose. While I philosophically agree with much of what the Freedom Caucus believes, I think mostly their remaining in Congress is a waste of a desk and a chair. Honestly, do you think the likes of Rep. Louie Gohmert could get anything done in Congress?
The Trump voter is a very different type of person. The Trump voter works for a living, has responsibilities, and must produce results. They don’t work in politics, rather they make and build things. They have no interest in going to Federalist Society luncheons, or Heritage Foundation seminars.
The Trump voter wants to get things done. They want results that will improve our country. The Ryan-Trump plan would have improved our healthcare system and its passage would have given a boost to the economy. But the Freedom Caucus would not go along. They have a Walter Mitty-like fantasy for the perfect bill, which of course won’t pass. No matter…they will stick with the elusive perfect bill.
The Freedom Caucus delusions remind me of the Great Gatsby line:
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning —
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Honestly, if the members of the Freedom Caucus were able to remain in Congress for the next hundred years they still would not be able to pass any significant pieces of legislation.
But no matter at least they can say they kept their principles.
