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How is it that the 37 most rightwing members of the House, the so-called Freedom Caucus, have disabled the Republican majority?

The explanation is the relatively recent tradition that Republicans never make bipartisan agreements with Democrats, except in the rare cases when they can peel off a few conservative Democrats to totally capitulate to Republican terms. If Republicans could bring themselves to work with Democrats the norm for most of American history the outsized influence of the most extreme Republicans would collapse.

The Republican posture of ultra-partisanship, which has now backfired, is something recent in American legislative politics. It dates only to the presidency of George W. Bush, and more recently to the Republican wall-to-wall blockage of Democratic initiatives under President Obama.

Before that, President Bill Clinton, who had a Republican majority in Congress for six of his eight years, frequently reached across the aisle to win majorities for policies, some of them liberal and some conservative.

This posture, commended by the strategist Dick Morris, was called Triangulation. It drove liberals crazy, but enabled Clinton to govern. (Clinton was also willing to play partisan hardball when then Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the governmentand had to back down.)

Under Clinton, liberal legislation like the Family and Medical Leave Act and the hike in the minimum wage were passed with mostly Democratic votes, but also with support of some Republicans. Conversely, more conservative bills, like the NAFTA deal in 1993 and the enactment of a draconian welfare reform (TANF) in 1996, passed with mostly Republican votes and a minority of Democrats.

Before Clinton, Republican President George H.W. Bush governed the same fashion. He reached across the aisle to get Republican and Democratic support for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1990 Clean Air Amendments. He enlisted Democrats when his fellow Republicans balked at a tax increase.

Several bills in the eras of the first president Bush and Bill Clinton bore the names of Ted Kennedy and Republican co-sponsors Nancy Kassebaum or Orrin Hatch.

Early in the Bush II Administration, W worked with Democrats over the objection of some Republicans to win support for an expansion in federal aid to education in exchange for federal standards, and to add a Medicare drug benefit.

And then partisanship gradually hardened. Under the so-called Hastert Rule, Republicans avoided bipartisan coalitions. It was first propounded in November 2004 by the then House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, as a way to maintain tighter party discipline. The Hastert rule bound Republicans to vote with a majority of the Republican caucus position.

Hastert left Congress in 2007, after Republicans lost control of the House. Hastert was subsequently found guilty of ethics violations and went to prison in a sex scandal, after it was revealed that he had been paying hush money to former students who he had abused as a wresting coach.

But when Republicans took back the Congress after 2010, they imposed a more extreme version of the same idea. They simply stopped working across the aisle.

This strategy worked well enough in their cynical opposition to anything Barack Obama imposed, but it has now given a de facto veto power to their own most extremist members the Freedom Caucus. Basically, the caucus has inverted the Hastert Rule, and feels free to oppose the GOPs rightwing policies if the are not rightwing enough. This has made it all but impossible for the Republican majority to govern.

There is a very simple cure, one that would consign the Freedom Caucus the political oblivion that it so richly deserves Trump and the Republicans should rediscover the benefits of bipartisanship.

After all, Trump did not campaign as a conservative but as a populist. He is not much of a partisan Republican and is cordially detested by most Republicans, who tolerate him only to the extent that they can use him.

If any president should be practicing triangulation, it is Donald Trump. Where is the ur-opportunist Dick Morris now that we need him? (Morris fell from grace in 1996 when he was caught with a hooker.) He and Trump were surely destined for each other.

If Trump and relatively sane Republicans could get together with Democrats to improve the aspects of the Affordable Care Act that do in fact need fixing, like rising premiums, they could tell the Tea Party Republicans in the Freedom Caucus to take a hike. Likewise on infrastructure and trade measures.

That maneuver and repositioning would show true artistry of the deal. With upwards of a hundred Democrats supporting bipartisan measures, the 37 whack jobs in the Freedom Caucus, who surely have no loyalty to Trump, would cease to have influence.

Are some House Republicans and Trump himself ready to acknowledge that reality and this option? It would allow for a restart of his presidency, more consistent with the promises he made in the campaign.

Or do they just share a hatred of Democrats so profound that they will continue to allow the Freedom Caucus to wreck the Republican Party and the Trump presidency alike?

Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and professor at Brandeis Universitys Heller School. His latest book is Debtors Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility. http://www.amazon.com/Debtors-Prison-Politics-Austerity-Possibility/dp/0307959805

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How To Marginalize The Tea Party - Huffington Post

A national tea party group is supporting the health care bill that President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan are urging lawmaker to pass on Capitol Hill.

Sal Russo, the co-founder and chief strategist of Tea Party Express, which bills itself as the largest tea party political action committee, told Medium that the bill is the first step in President Donald Trump and Speaker Paul Ryans promise to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Admittedly, this is far from a perfect repeal, and no conservative would propose this if it werent for the reality of the obstructionist Democrats in the Senate, Mr. Russo said. But President Ronald Reagan had the right idea as he faced a Democratic-controlled House throughout his presidency. He would regularly say about working with the Democrats, If they offer you half a loaf, what do you do? You take half a loaf and then you come back for more.

Lacking support for the plan, House GOP leaders postponed a vote on the proposal on Thursday and rescheduled it for Friday after it became clear that the votes were not there on both the left and the right in particular in the House Freedom Caucus, which has refused to get on board despite pleas from Mr. Ryan and Mr. Trump.

Outside groups such as Heritage Action and the Club for Growth have called on lawmakers to shoot down the bill, arguing that it does not go far enough.

But Mr. Russo said lawmakers should take the victory and move on to other parts of the conservative agenda.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) is the first step in President Donald Trump and Speaker Paul Ryans promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, he said in a statement. Conservatives of every stripe should take this opportunity to support this phase of the process by casting what will be remembered as one of the most consequential conservative votes in decades.

Originally posted here:
Tea Party Express urges lawmakers to pass health care bill ...

The Tea Party Express has decided to back the GOP bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare hours before a pivotal vote in the House.

Admittedly, this is far from a perfect repeal, and no conservative would propose this if it werent for the reality of the obstructionist Democrats in the Senate, Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo wrote in a Medium post explaining the decision.

Other major Tea Party and grassroots conservative groups have come out against the bill despite calls by President Trump for its passage. The Club for Growth and Heritage Action are among its opponents.

Russo framedFriday'svote as a take-it-or-leave-it moment for conservatives and said he hoped that passing the bill through the House would keep the negotiation going as the bill works its way through the Senate.

We will continue to support the efforts of conservatives to improve this bill and advance the plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. But regardless of the outcome of specific amendments, we must all keep President Reagans advice in mind and plan on going back for more, he said.

If this bill fails, those battles will only get tougher. We cannot afford for our friends within the conservative movement to insist on letting the perfect be the enemy of the good which to many voters, is exactly whats happening.

Tea Party Express rose to prominence in 2009 in large part due to its criticism of former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaPence: Trump 'won't rest' until ObamaCare repealed Christie: No evidence Trump was spied on Pence pushes Manchin in home state to support Gorsuch MORE's signature healthcare plan. The group held rallies across the country blasting ObamaCare as a government takeover of healthcare.

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Tea Party Express backs Trump's ObamaCare bill | TheHill - The Hill

Rare.us

This is exactly what we elected the Tea Party to do | Rare Rare.us What's all this empty nonsense about the Tea Party being dead? Actually, I've weighed calling in the mortician several times myself, given how indifferent ... and more »

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This is exactly what we elected the Tea Party to do | Rare - Rare.us

MANKATO The leader of the tea party movement in south-central Minnesotawould like to see a little tolerance and patience from the political left toward their still-new president.

"We're in a divided country, but I'm hopeful," said Mankato attorney Andrew Johnson. "And I hope people give Trump a chance to demonstrate what he's capable of."

Johnson, who was heavily involved in the formation of the tea party movement locally and statewide, sees Donald Trump's victory as a culmination of that movement. While the organization hasn't been as active in recent years, the tea party's philosophy was still alive in the minds of supporters.

"The tea party mentality helped elect Trump as president," said Johnson, adding that the New York real estate developer deserves high marks for his efforts since Nov. 8. "I am impressed with his diligence prior to being sworn in and up to now. ... I suspect with his energy level, he's going to do a lot of things."

The rise of grass-roots organizing in opposition to Trump has been compared to the emergence of the tea party in the weeks after the federal government takeover by the Democrats in the 2008 election. Johnson, though, thinks opposition to Trump has been more radical and less tolerant than the tea party movement.

"The reactionary attitude, to me, is beyond the constitutional parameters of free speech," he said. "... I don't recall seeing any tea party mentality or reaction as offensive as I've seen reported now where they don't tolerate opposing viewpoints."

Attempting to maintain a focus on core principles is a challenge for any grass-roots movement, and it was sometimes difficult for the tea party. For Johnson, those principles could be boiled down to limited government, fiscal responsibility and support of free enterprise, but the movement also attracted social conservatives focused on opposition to abortion or gay marriage.

"I would listen to them and acknowledge them no matter what the viewpoint," he said. But then the former Blue Earth County commissioner would attempt to steer the message back to the group's basic beliefs.

Maintaining enthusiasm also was a challenge, something he blames partly on the tea party's portrayal by the media. After an energetic first couple of years, the local tea party's public activities were mainly centered around meetings featuring conservative speakers.

Johnson doesn't appear worried that the Indivisible movement or other left-leaning groups will grow to the size and strength of the tea party during its zenith in 2009 and 2010. Average Americans were attracted to the tea party, and Johnson thinks most will be repelled by the Trump opposition groups.

"I don't think the left is making a decent impression on the American public," he said.

These days Johnson's duties as a tea party leader are minimal. He participates in occasional webinars and periodically passes along an item of interest through the group's local email list.

"So we're still sort of active, but on a more subtle basis," he said. "But I don't think the tea party is gone. As demonstrated by our last election, a tea party mentality is still around."

And if the progressive version of the tea party becomes more publicly energetic in opposing Trump's agenda, Johnson said he might be inclined to try to call the former troops back to duty.

Originally posted here:
Tea party leader hopes Trump opponents will give president a chance - Mankato Free Press