An Associated Press dispatch from Washington (Main news, April 19) lamented that “the new House has few accomplishments to date.” It blamed this apparently sad state of affairs on the controversy over Speaker Newt Gingrich and suggested that with the issue resolved, the GOP could move on with “our agenda.”
Question: What’s wrong with having “few accomplishments,” since in Washington accomplishments invariably cost taxpayers money and come with strings attached? Let’s be honest: The Republican Revolution sputtered out soon after it began (name one really meaningful plank of the Contract With America that was actually implemented); for more than a year now, GOP leaders have been talking the talk but walking Bill Clinton’s walk of ever-bigger government by creeping incrementalism.
What’s wrong with not passing new laws or creating new programs? Don’t we have enough of both already? Doesn’t everyone but David Bonior and Dick Gephardt agree government is too big, too intrusive, too costly? If the GOP isn’t serious about chopping it down to size, the next best thing is to do nothing. Don’t act on anything the president sends up to the Hill; don’t propose anything new (unless it repeals laws and regulations and eliminates government departments and waste). Then recess until fall and give us all a break.
To paraphrase Gordon Gekko of the movie “Wall Street”: “Gridlock is good.”
