By Joe Carbonari
I don’t pretend to know why Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, and arguably the No. 1 thorn in the side of the Obama administration, was beaten so badly in the Virginia primary by a relative unknown, David Brat. But I hope that for many it was that they realized that, despite his power and position, Cantor really hadn’t accomplished much.
Brat portrayed Cantor as a “friend of Wall Street” and a “crony capitalist” – powerful, but not “conservative” enough, and not representative of his district – a Tea Partier in name only. Ineffective for sure. As it turns out, lost jobs, a weakened economy, and conflicted leadership are all that the Tea Party has gotten out of the government shutdown and Cantor’s obstructionism. Is he a lesson learned?
As the Tea Party matures it must either morph or it will wither. It is a grassroots movement born of frustration, given energy by its sense of self-reliance and personal responsibility. It has been a movement of largely political newcomers, unfamiliar with the levers of political power, or of the dangers of their misuse.
Much of the Tea Party’s leadership has appeared opportunistic, insincere in motivation and ineffective in accomplishment. Gridlock has been the result. We all deserve better. We all need reasonable, informed guidance and responsible, experienced leadership. The Tea Party included.
By Tim Baldwin
One of the reasons the Founders believed our Republic would be successful is that they presumed our representatives would be too closely connected to the people and thus would have more motivation to serve the people than be corrupted by “foreign” interests. But experience proves that their presumption is unsafe.
Cantor’s defeat to a college professor in Virginia shows that people are weary of the D.C.-establishment controlling politics, yes. But here is the problem: getting career politicians out of DC is very difficult — almost impossible. D.C. politicians have a host of interests that protect their position, which creates and perpetuates corruption. This is why so many, including Sen. Rand Paul, favor amending the U.S. Constitution to limit term of office, just as Montana’s and other state constitutions do.
Cantor’s defeat shows that D.C. politicians can be removed. However, for that to happen, the problems have to become too great. People like to complain about corrupt politicians as the cause of our political problems. Yes, corrupt politicians are a problem, but systems of free government presume the corruptible nature of humans. Where experience shows us what aspects of the system facilitate corruption, we need to change the rules – even the rules in the Constitution – to diminish corruption’s impact.