Since the first uprising of the Tea Party movement, there has been a strenuous effort to corral the righteous indignation and anger of conservatives. And it has been successful. The faithful have been romanced and led by smooth talking, Yankee Doodle politicians, as well as “conservative” media. Unfortunately, as conservatives we have forgotten the one thing that truly makes us conservative. We don’t follow. We lead. And we don’t buy every spin doctor’s explanation of events, regardless of whomever is dishing it out. Hopefully, we remain “OBJECTIVE” enough on all issues to be able to criticize any president, politician, or any action, regardless of whether or not they are of your chosen party.
I woke up today to hear, a local conservative talk show host, trying desperately to assuage his audience against the mass outrage after President Trump’s monumental betrayal by signing the omnibus bill on Friday afternoon. His argument for a line item veto, not the omnibus bill event, in my opinion, is more dangerous to conservative values and constitutional principles than any I’ve heard in a very long time.
The conservative media is grasping at the last life line to keep the flock following the now Republican president. This particular talk show host, in my opinion twisted the constitution into something unrecognizable in a last ditch attempt to breath life back into a very deflated following. One thing he got seriously right was that the Republicans in congress fell extremely short of doing their jobs, on a number of levels.
So, why would the line item veto be detrimental for this or any other to posses? And think about it, if you are Trump, would have redlined two thousand pages of pork, or anything else?
Trump’s first mistake was to not publicly point fingers at, the Republican congress, demand they act like Republican congress is supposed to act, and admonish them for sending two thousand pages to the White House in the form of a spending bill. He’s not using the power of his bully pulpit to his advantage. In fact, he never has since he’s taken his oath of office. Many voters, who have abandoned him over the omnibus, have long since been disappointed in his change in demeanor since the stepped behind the resolute desk. (Do you really believe if Trump had a line item veto, things would have turned out differently? And ask yourself: Would he have taken a red pen to two thousand pages of that bill?)
Adding a line item veto eliminates the checks and balances, that congress has over the executive, and the executive has over congress. It simply places more power in the hands of government, and further weakens the people’s already constrained control over it. No president should have it. It does give any president too much power and it is in direct conflict with the way our constitutional government is framed.
Consequently, if you don’t want a president to cave and sign ridiculous two thousand page bills, don’t send legislators to congress who create them. It’s pretty simple. Legislators can be removed easier than a POTUS, IF there is political will to do it. Look, that doesn’t by any stretch of the imagination excuse what the president did last week. But there is also no need to dismantle the constitution over it, either. A line item veto would only weaken the people’s ability control their government, not that they’re doing such a hot job of that now. Chipping away at the constitution is short sighted and won’t solve the problem.
And, unless I’m mistaken, the very talk show host who is talking support of the line item veto, in this case, is also against term limits for the very same reasons I outlined above.
I wish conservatives, would resist knee jerk reactions that further erode the constitution. Following any particular narrative, from media or politicians, just because we want to preserver our party in power, only gets us more of what we’ve already got. And what we’ve got is not even coming close to restoring conservative to the government, party, narrative, culture.
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