How To Stop More Republican Betrayals

by Chip Wood 
Thanks to yet another “bipartisan compromise” in Washington, we taxpayers have had it socked to us again. This time, it’s a new farm bill that’s made everyone so happy — except for us taxpayers, who will have to pay for the danged thing. Congress hadn’t managed to pass a comprehensive farm bill since 2008, so the fact that this one finally got approved is supposed to be greeted with hosannas.
The bill is 959 pages long and calls for spending nearly a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. The $956.4 billion in expenditures works out to nearly $1 billion for each page. That’s not as bad as the Affordable Care Act (the monstrosity that created Obamacare), but I think you’ll agree it’s a pretty hefty sum.
The measure passed the House of Representatives last week on a vote of 251-166, which meant it had substantial Republican support. The same thing happened in the Senate this week, where it was approved this past Monday on a vote of 68-32.
The biggest single expenditure, by far, is the food stamp program, which has more than doubled since Barack Obama took office five years ago. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to give its official name, now feeds one out of every seven Americans. The cost comes to $80 billion a year.

Yet we’re somehow supposed to be grateful that Congress agreed to trim 1 percent from that total bill, or a measly $8 billion? Thanks a bunch, Congress.
Even more idiotic than the farm bill that just got passed, Republicans are now talking about agreeing on a compromise immigration bill. This would be a mistake of colossal proportions. I can’t imagine their being so stupid and self-destructive. But then again, after watching the so-called Republican “leadership” for many years: Yes, I can.
First of all, there is nothing that Republicans could do — not even agreeing to some sort of amnesty program, as they did under Ronald Reagan — that will enable them to win a significant number of Hispanic votes. It just ain’t gonna happen.
Second of all, no matter what new legislation says about protecting our borders, does anyone really believe that Barack Obama will enforce it? The President has shown an utter disdain for his Constitutional mandate to enforce many existing laws. Now we’re going to count on him to do something that would upset a significant number of his supporters? No way, José.
And here’s one other major concern. No matter what sort of bill the Republican majority in the House of Representatives passes, you can bet that a far different and more destructive one will come out of the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will make sure of that. Guess which side is likely to win most of the battles when the two sides sit down to hammer out the final legislation?
The smartest thing Republicans could do this year regarding a new immigration bill is… nothing. Let the Democrats issue all of the threats and make all of the promises they want. Republicans should simply sit down, shut up and refuse to bring any immigration legislation to a vote. This is definitely one case where doing nothing is a whole heck of a lot better than any “compromise” legislation they could approve.

The best thing the Republicans could do is not even start down this path. Let the Democrats rant and rave and bluff and bluster. Let’s put this one off until next year — when hopefully a Republican will take the reins as Senate Majority Leader. What a difference that would make!
But maybe not, if it’s the current Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). What a squishy-soft compromiser he is. If conservatives want tough, determined, uncompromising leadership in the Senate, McConnell is not the man.
The best way to replace him is not by waiting until next year, but by getting a better person to run for his Senate seat this year. And happily, there is a candidate running against him in the Republican primary who would bring a Tea Party brand of conservatism to Washington. His name is Matt Bevin.
In July, National Review ran an article titled “Kentucky’s Ted Cruz?” that was about Bevin. In response, Bevin wrote: “I can tell you, I truly appreciate this comparison. Ted Cruz is exactly the kind of principled, conservative senator I will be–one who isn’t afraid to stand up to the ‘establishment,’ even in his own party.”
Could you imagine McConnell saying anything like that? I can’t.

It should tell you something that The Hill ran an article about Bevin’s challenge of McConnell with the headline “Democrats, for once, are rooting for McConnell in Senate primary.” Why would the Democrats hope a Republican incumbent would win his primary? Because they know — and recent polls confirm — that Bevin has a better chance of beating Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic candidate, than McConnell.
That’s right. As surprising as it may sound, the latest Rasmussen poll in Kentucky says that Bevin has a better chance of defeating Grimes than the incumbent. Kentucky is a deeply red State; heck, Obama lost the state to Mitt Romney by a margin of 22.7 points. So any Republican should be a shoo-in to win an election there.
But not McConnell. It seems that many Kentuckians are as dismayed by his so-called “leadership” as I am. And I’m not alone. Here’s what Erick Erickson, the editor of RedState, had to say about this contest: “You want to change Washington? I’ll say it again — the single biggest thing you can do is support Matt Bevin.”
To learn more about Bevin, go to his campaign website, www.mattbevin.com. But don’t delay. The Republican primary in Kentucky is May 20. That gives conservatives just three months to get a staunch conservative running for the Senate seat there.
I hope the voters in Kentucky will tell McConnell it’s time to retire. If you know any there, please ask them to jump on this bandwagon.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.