What Boehner must Do

 We all know the attempt to oust Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, failed. What many may not realize, is that it only barely failed. At first, Boehner seemed to be responding with indignation. Two of the “rogue” congressmen were removed from their committee appointments, with threats that more would be punished. But, based on several articles on Breightbart, the Blaze, Newsmax and others, Boehner seems to be striking a more conciliatory tone, lamenting that he had once been the 8^th most Conservative Congressman in Congress, and wondering how he was now considered “establishment.”-1)

   Breightbart points out at least six major breaks from Conservative philosophy. On the 2011Budget Control Act, the 2011 Disaster Relief Funding Bill, Boehner’s 2012 purge of Conservatives from important committee appointments, The mishandled 2013 Obamacare Government Shutdown, The 2013 Ryan-Murray Budget Deal, and of course, the fact that Boehner has been actively advocating for amnesty. -2. Ben Shapiro can break down each of these failures better than I, but sufficed to say that in each of these major bills or policies, Obama has gotten the farm, and then some, from Boehner. Unlike Gingrich, who at least dragged Bill Clinton to the middle and had major Conservative accomplishments as a result, Boehner seems incapable of moving Obama in any direction on any issue. And that is why there was an attempt to depose him.

   With Boehner seemingly wanting to fix the divisions within the party, there are a few things I would like to put forward that he needs to lead out on:

1)      No gas tax increase. Already, Gas taxes make up almost 50 cents of every gallon of gasoline purchased by consumers. True, that is when you combine state taxes with federal taxes, but even so, gas prices have been front and center to the economic crisis that we have been facing. Much of the housing market bubble popping can be attributed to the gas price shocks we experienced at the same time. Gas prices didn’t just rise gradually, they exploded on us, and otherwise responsible people like me, found ourselves unable to pay our bills based on our budgets. Soon, we had less money for the superfluous things, like gadgets and electronics, and we had to spend less on food, dates and everything in general.

What economic growth we have been experiencing this last quarter can, likewise, be attributed to the collapsing gas prices. People have money again, and while it is too late for me to avoid bankruptcy, if gas prices remain low, it will certainly help me, and millions of other poor Americans, to stabilize our finances. The federal government, and the anti-tax party, no less, want to increase the gas tax by 12 cents a gallon. This will reverse the growth we are experiencing. Time permitting, I will try to do a video later explaining this in greater detail, but the same rules that govern income tax, and corporate tax, governs gasoline also. I don’t care that it hasn’t gone up in 18 years, no one on Main Street, or Wall Street does. Increasing the gas tax will surely increase our costs of living, and the Chamber of Commerce’s costs of doing business. Sure, there is panic on Wall Street over these lower prices, but if they hold on, other prices will start to fall, including the cost of building and maintaining infrastructure.

2)      Stop the Anti-Tea Party talk. 2012 happened because the party was divided amongst ourselves. In my book, The Great Compromise: Getting Past The Emotional Nonsense Dividing America (which you can pick up here), I put forward three major factions I blamed for our losses, but made clear that the most damage was done by the Moderate Establishment. After all, instead of reaching out to Conservative activists and trying to understand their concerns, they bludgeoned the Grass Roots Activists at every opportunity. They spent more time in the 2012 election cycle trying to beat the Tea Party than they did trying to beat Barack Obama. Those disaffected activists stayed home, and then the Establishment had the audacity to berate and belittle them for that too! It’s as if the Establishment was saying, “I don’t want to listen to you ‘wacko birds’, but how dare you refuse to vote for me!” It’s a sign of obvious insanity.What's worse is that there are now some establishment types who have taken to making a game out of sticking their thumb in the eyes of Conservative activists. Some even take it so far as to post inflammatory messages on facebook, just to annoy the people who don’t vote Democrat, and whose trust is being betrayed. It’s up to John Boehner to put a stop to this.

3)      Never give up on Obamacare, never give in. If we cannot repeal it, three specific aspects of it must be repealed. The Individual mandate, and the tax penalties associated with it, because I am not the only one who is simply not making enough to buy healthcare, period. The Employer Mandate, because many small businesses cannot afford it, period. Finally, the 30 hour work week needs to go back to 40 hours, because we already cannot afford health care, and not being able to work 40 hours a week will only make it worse.

This cannot wait for the upcoming Supreme Court review. We already know that Justice Roberts back stabbed us in the past, essentially by re-interpreting the law as a tax, even though Obama insisted it wasn't. I do not trust SCOTUS to do the right thing. Even if Obama vetoes any action we take, we much persist.

4)       Abandon Amnesty. Outside the Democratic Party, and the Chamber of Commerce, no one really wants it, as reflected by poll after poll, where as many as 75% of the population are opposed to Amnesty in any form. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that pushing Amnesty through will win over enough of the undocumented immigrant vote to replace the votes that will be lost for doing it. In fact, most polls show that these are Democratic Demographics, and while I support trying to win them over, they know when they are being pandered to, and won’t switch sides for anything other than us converting them to our belief system. I support minority outreach because I believe Conservative Principals will benefit them. That is how we will win their votes, doing genuine outreach. That is the policy that will return Boehner and the GOP to the good graces of the people. Genuine outreach to minority communities, and enforcement of our current laws. The problem isn't that the system is broke. The problem is that it is ignored.

   So we have given 6 major Boehner screw ups, and only four things to address to fix it. If nothing else, I hope that demonstrates that we, who serve as Boehner’s critics, are not unreasonable. It won’t take much to get him back on our good side, and if he’s serious about it, we’d be happy to reconcile, if he is willing to at least do these few things.

1: Boehner Defends His Conservatism, By Caroline May 1/8/15, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/01/08/boehner-defends-his-conservatism-im-not-a-squish-the-most-anti-establishment-speaker-ever/ www.breitbart.com accessed 1/11/15. 

2: Six Times Boehner has Proved His Incompetence, By Ben Shapiro, 1/5/15 http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/01/05/six-times-john-boehner-proved-his-incompetence/ www.breitbart.com accessed 1/11/15.