Facebook rant++: Open Letter to Speaker John Boehner

Speaker Boehner:

Do your job. You need to call for a vote on a "clean" budget bill IMMEDIATELY or resign. If you refuse to do so and continue your anti-government, un-Constitutional tactics to the point that the United States of America defaults on our debt, you should be tried for seditious conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384), and I do not level this charge lightly. You are not only actively destroying the credibility of the US government, you stand to destroy the credit-worthiness of the United States of America and a significant portion of the amassed wealth of its citizens.

You refuse to call for a vote on a budget bill that will re-open the government based on your claims that it lacks the votes to pass. There are MANY sources that disagree with your math on this (see Doing the Math, below), but "your math" shouldn't matter. The government is shutdown due to lack of a viable budget bill being presented for a vote, and you, Speaker Boehner, are the one that can call for this vote. If there aren't the votes to pass this bill, fine, but give your fellow legislators a chance to do their job. This is obstructionism at its absolute worst.

I'll concede that I'm no Constitutional scholar, and since neither of us are attorneys, we'll each have our own layman's understanding of how it's supposed to work. But even so, the Constitution provides that any bills that involve "raising revenue" (such as a "budget bill") originate in the House of Representatives (Article 1, Section 7), which you control. Further, the Constitution also expressly burdens Congress with the duty "to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States" (Article 1, Section 8). I don't think it's a huge stretch to think that if the Framers went to the trouble to think through both who's responsible for "raising revenues" and paying our debts that they considered that something that's relatively important. And is a government that is shut down (offering only critical services) yet costing taxpayers MORE in the process really contributing to the "general Welfare of the United States"?

Instead of doing your job, you choose to ignore the Constitution and resort to extortionist tactics to expand your powers beyond those bestowed upon your office by the Constitution. In so doing, you defiantly trample on the intentions of the Constitution and its Framers. You've chosen to turn your office and the execution of your duties into a political lever to claim a personal veto power over existing legislation. This incredible over-reach asserts a power that the Constitution affords NO ONE -- not even the President.  As I said, I'm no Constitutional scholar, but I just can't imagine that somewhere in the Great Beyond the Framers of the Constitution are watching this debacle you've created and thinking, "Yeah. That's it. THAT'S how this is supposed to work." I'd suppose, instead, that they're with the rest of us and probably lining up behind your latest 11% Congressional approval rating, which is statistically a tie with the WORST APPROVAL RATING EVER FOR ANY CONGRESS. You must be proud.

As citizens of this great country with a vested interest in an operational government and sound economy, we must constantly measure the performance of our elected officials. And truthfully, your latest assessment doesn't look very good (the 11% approval rating aside, I'm specifically talking about your PERSONAL performance). Your refusal to call for a vote suggests that either:

a) the vote won't go the way you want it to, so you've decided to take the US (and possibly global) economy hostage to impose your will over the will of the people, or,
b) you are incapable or unwilling to execute the duties of your office.

I will happily give you the benefit of the doubt; I don't believe that the good people of southwestern Ohio managed to elect a total moron to 12 terms in the House of Representatives. But that, unfortunately, leaves us to assess your recent actions as incompetence, intransigence, or seditious conspiracy, which is defined by the U.S. Code, in part, as when "...two or more persons...conspire to...prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States". Of course, as a member of Congress, you are also exempted from arrest, save Treason, Felony or Breach of the Peace (Article 1, Section 6), but seditious conspiracy is a felony. This would qualify you and your Tea Party co-conspirators for fines and up to 20 years in prison. Honestly, that sounds about right, especially when these behaviors come from those sworn by oath to uphold the Constitution.

Now don't get me wrong -- I'm all for smaller government, but there are Constitutionally-provided mechanisms to achieve these goals. You cannot undo the collective work of government expansionists (like Reagan and G. W. Bush) overnight -- and you shouldn't try. Even if the will of the people was on your side, this is not the right course of action to accomplish your goals. Propose legislation that amends the current legislation you want to change and follow the process. Oh, and "following the process" also implies that you must live with the outcome. It seems you're not happy with the results of your MANY failed attempts to defund, delay, or otherwise undermine the Affordable Care Act, or we wouldn't be in this situation. Did you learn nothing from Newt Gingrich's GOP-led government shutdown(s) in 1995 (which you were party to), the resulting public backlash, and Gingrich's own acknowledgement that shutting down the government was his "single most avoidable mistake"? And seriously, there can't be anything enjoyable in letting political opportunists like Ted Cruz call the shots.

It's incomprehensible to me that you've learned nothing from history and shut down the government for purely political reasons. Then, coincidentally, that shut down puts us squarely on a trajectory that forces the world to wonder if the United States of America is about to default on its debts. You show no respect for this country, our Constitution, due process, or our international reputation, which, prior to now, I didn't think could be any worse. Your actions are counter to the interests of the United States and have squarely crossed into the territory of "high crimes and misdemeanors". 

THIS. MUST. STOP. NOW.

You are the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America. This is a leadership role -- one that has responsibilities beyond political boundaries and party lines. It's time to start LEADING. Your country is depending on you to do so. This has gone too far and you're the one empowered to end it. Stop the political infighting, step up, and get busy doing something to earn your $223K+ salary. You were the one that wanted this job -- now you need to do it. #doyourjob

Sincerely -

Shane O.


Doing the Math: 217 votes are required to pass a budget bill in the House of Representatives. 195 members of Congress have signed a document indicating they would support a "clean" budget bill, and 25 more have indicated verbally that they would support it as well. This means there are 220 votes to support it, 3 more than necessary to pass. You indicate that there aren't enough votes to pass, but offer no details or numbers.