Do Nothing, Get Nothing

EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NEVER (knowingly) pulled a lever in a voting booth for a Republican candidate, I don't want anyone to think I mean to be partisan when I ask: what the hell does the GOP think it's doing?

I refer to the Republicans' conscious strategy right now to do nothing, in hopes that it will make Democrats look bad and make people like Republicans more -- or some such tortured logic.

Its 'don't-just-do-something, sit-there' approach has been especially apparent for all the months since Congress and the White House have been grappling with health care policy legislation. The sight we've seen of that process has mostly been of Democrats agonizing among themselves, save for one or two moderate Republicans, exceptions who prove the rule.

The strategy, if there is one, seems to be to let the Democrats get their hands dirty and keep Republicans from getting tagged with what will inevitably be a messy process -- and I mean the process leading up to passage of the bill and the implementation after it becomes law (remember all the tumult and confusion around the implementation of the Medicare prescription drug law? This is sure to be as chaotic, but such is profound change.) I have to believe (and, if I took the time, I could probably find polling research to back this up) that Democrats will get credit for trying to do something about what everyone agrees is a broken system, even if the outcome isn't perfect.

Maybe the Congressional Republicans' polling data is beginning to show that they've alienated a lot of potential supporters by coming across as a do-nothing party, because they've finally gotten around to submitting a Republican version of health care reform.

But will this fool anyone? A sneak peek of the Republican bill says it contains a greatest hits of GOP health care provisions (some of which have passed the House but not the Senate in past years) and look like more of a motley patchwork of ideas that may not address the real problems. And won't some people wonder: 1) what took them so long, 2) whether they missed a boat that has long sailed, and 3) if this is any more than a stunt?

Consider also the performance -- or non-performance, really -- of Republicans when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee met yesterday to mark up that chamber's version of so-called cap-and-trade climate legislation. Except for a brief appearance by Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, Republicans boycotted the proceedings. And all that Voinovich offered was an appeal to subject the provisions of the bill to another EPA analysis that will shed no new light and only delay the deliberations further. Rather than raise their voices rationally against what they clearly see as a flawed bill, they'd rather not show up and try to stall. It's just silly and insulting to the country.

I'll give another example, though, to be fair, this goes back to the previous Congress. I'm talking about the 2007 immigration reform bill, which was done in by Republicans, too. At least in that case, Republicans showed up, though some actually kept a low profile, hoping that by ducking the rage from fervent anti-reformers, it would hit Democrats (and a few courageous Republicans) in the face.

In all three cases, these are issues that every sentient being in the U.S. agrees needs attention. Everyone agrees that our health care system is unsustainable and needs fixing. Most everyone agrees that there is such a thing as climate change and that its effects are already bearing down on us. And everyone, from right to left, agrees that our immigration system doesn't work for anyone and requires an overhaul. Not only is there widespread agreement about all these problems, but that consensus has been with us for a long time. 

It's funny that Congress (and other legislative bodies) are so often the last to acknowledge and seriously address some of the big issues like these. They look out of touch and in denial when many businesses, local and state governments and majorities of Americans are already taking steps that Congress would never touch. Businesses, health providers and states have been talking about the need for health reform for years. There's powerful concern around the country about global warming and lots of businesses and individual citizens are taking serious steps to deal with it. So, too, there are many who are more than ready for sensible, comprehensive immigration reform, even if some of the talk radio screamers aren't.

I'm referring also to issues such as affirmative action -- most companies and universities were way ahead of the national political leaders when it came to acknowledging and addressing the need for it -- and gay rights -- many businesses provide the sort of amenities to same-sex-partner employees that makes their lives easier and shuns discrimination, and local and state governments have begun to see that there's no reasonable argument to be made against same-sex marriage.

I'm not saying there are any perfect and elegant solutions, but doing nothing is not an option. And it's hard to have any confidence that you'll get the outcome you want if you're not part of the process that goes into bill making. In the case of immigration (and to some extent health care), the very opponents of reform are the ones who are crying the loudest about how flawed the system is, as I've written before. 

And I'm not here to give advice to Republicans how to run their business. But, next thing you know, we'll hear their familiar refrain that the Dems froze them out of the process (which, by the way, Republicans really did when they were in charge of Congress a few years ago and which the Dems have been a great pains not to allow now). That sort of cyncism is not becoming.

Again, this is not partisan. It's about how all our leaders -- Democratic, Republican or Independent -- need to show they they're really there to lead, not just to win the next election.But for now, the Republicans really have a problem with this.

Jeff

Comments

[Rob Brosey]

Jeff,

Very interesting...

What I would like to see is a movement started that mandates we STOP creating new laws for a period of say 3 - 5 years. We have so many now they have become almost a flavor of the day/week.

I know and understand we are paying big dollars to all of our elected officials... it is their job to create laws; or at least they seem to think so; and the faster the better or so they think. I would like to see the No Law period enacted. This would maybe force our elected officials to stop and think and maybe come down out of their ivory towers and really get to know their constituents. During this time they would also have time to create good, needed laws, develop a partisan approach and maybe, just maybe, make America a nation for the people and not special interest, knee jerk reactionaries.

[Moshe Avram]

It's an extraordinarily clever strategy because the GOP knows that the Dems (or Dem Bums!) have difficulty governing due to the heterogeneity (sp)of their coalition.... among other factors. When the bottom has fallen out of your ideology, it's probably best to pretend as if the ideology still has some juice until something better comes along. The "something better" for the GOP is usually built on the failures of liberalism.

After all, U.S. politics at the federal level is much less about governing than it is about ambition. The GOP strategy may well backfire but, as our friend Dylan once said "When you got nothin' you got nothin' to lose."