Shut down the Freedom Caucus

I had a nightmare yesterday while I was awake. I was walking along the Iowa River. It could not have been a lovelier day: sunny, the sight of the flowing water, few clouds in a blue sky, birds singing in the trees A dream of a day. But I suddenly spotted vultures soaring overhead in search of carrion. They changed my mood.

I thought about the Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives. I asked myself, “What would our country look like if they were in total control of the House?” That’s when the nightmare hit.

I lay down behind a bush on a slippery slope, hoping the nightmare would go away, but it didn’t. We have long had fringe players in the Republican Party, and the Democrats have a few too. But they want to do more, not nothing, to make lives better.

The Tea Party Caucus was a predecessor of the Freedom Caucus. To be a member, the first words you uttered in the morning was not, “Have a wonderful day. I love you, dear.”, but “Balance the budget. Balance the budget. Balance the budget.” I wasn’t alone, but we were all Democrats.

Then I recalled that I had a Republican ally. Speaker of the House John Boehner, then in his second term as speaker and 15 years in the House, had had enough. He resigned. “I woke up and said my prayers as I always do.” A devout Catholic, a dedicated Republican with leadership skills, could take his very right wing no more.

In a departure interview he described them in less prayerful language. It merited a headline: They were “idiots, anarchists, and (expletive).”

Today, the Freedom Caucus is challenging a weaker speaker, Kevin McCarthy, in their compulsion to shut down the government. If they are successful, school lunch program will take a hit and thousands of kids will go without while others eat. Air traffic controllers won’t be paid but forced to work in an unsettling situation as you and I fly dangerously, maybe to the bedside of a dying mother or a long planned golfing vacation. The national park you intended to visit with your kids is closed. The Department of Agriculture will shut off programs that make today and tomorrow better for all of Iowa. Social Security checks may arrive, but not be cashable. Shutdown means misery.

John Boehner has spoken out about his party and he knows it a bit better than I so I simply quote from interviews:

On Trump: “Donald Trump’s not a Republican. He’s not a Democrat. He’s a populist. He doesn’t have an ideological bone in his body.”

“Everything else he’s done (in office) has been a complete disaster.”

On the Freedom Caucus: “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”

He describes Jim Jordan, “A terrorist. A legislative terrorist.” He knows Mark Meadows well: “He’s an idiot. I can’t tell you what makes him tick.”

The speaker has the last word.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary, and authored a memoir “From Nowhere to Somewhere.”