Complain, Don't Act

Recent developments suggest a few favorite tea party congressfolk are adopting a strategy of Complain, Don't Act.

 From Politico, Appropriations Panel Loses Its Luster

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was asked to be an appropriator and said thanks, but no thanks. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a tea party favorite, turned down a shot at Appropriations, which controls all discretionary spending. So did conservatives like Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), an ambitious newcomer who will lead the influential Republican Study Committee.

Indeed, the Appropriations Committee just doesn’t seem to be the plum assignment it once was, and the line is short for new recruits to join a panel where the longtime focus on bringing home earmarks and other goodies will shift to finding $100 billion in spending cuts. Even conservative reformers who do get assigned to the committee are likely to be stymied once their appropriations bills reach the floor and get amended to death, then potentially earmarked into oblivion by a Democratic Senate.

These are exactly the sorts of signals we need from new Republican congressfolk to finally convince Americans to support independent candidates who might listen to the people, figure out what they want, and then actually try to follow through.

This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry patiently explains to the car rental rep that it's the holding of the reservation that matters. "Anyone can just take 'em!" Same goes for the complaints of the people. Anyone can just take our complaints and then rant them back at us. It's the addressing of the complaints that matters.