I join with the many other bloggers in supporting a reformist candidate for the GOP leadership in the Unites States House of Representatives. The Abramoff scandals have only highlighted the way in which the Republican leadership has lost touch with the principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government, and accountability to the people. In order to maintain a Republican majority in the House it is necessary for the GOP to make a strong commitment to those core principles.
I also heartily endorse the candidacy of John Shadegg for the position of Majority Leader. Congressman Shadegg represents the type of reformist candidate that is necessary to lead the GOP into a stronger position in 2006. I believe the editors of National Review have said it best:
There are three imperatives for the House GOP in the current environment that threatens its majority: Can it clean up its image? Can it reform practices that have at best made for sloppy governance and at worst contributed to corruption? And can it pursue policies that restore the trust of its political base and restore a purpose to an often direction-less majority? Shadegg is the best candidate on all counts.
The Republican Party faces a crisis of confidence between the leadership of the party and the base of the party. Shadegg is the leader who can best bridge this gap and return the Republican Party to the values of the Reagan Revolution that has brought it from a minority party to the majority party. If we abandon those principles the Republican Party will no longer be the majority – and it’s hard to argue that it should be.
Fiscal responsibility, limited government, and accountability aren’t just buzzwords, they are the bedrock foundations of the Republican Party. It’s time for a leadership that respects and propagates those values in the House.
Yes siree, clean that house and the senate for that matter. It seems to scream for term limits.
As a Democrat, I heartily endorse Roy Blunt for the new Majority Leader. Blunt is the patriarch of perhaps the biggest lobbying family in America and is literally dripping with slime. God, I hope the Republicans are arrogant enough to select this clown as their leader.