With major shake ups in the GOP this week, most notably the appointment of Paul Ryan to the position of the Speaker of the House, it’s hard not to hope that things are going to change. It’s likely no surprise to people following the current process of finding a Republican nominee for President has yielded a crop of outsiders that have done remarkably well within the race.
Most notably these include: Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump. The message that Ryan elicited to his colleagues when he took office was one of the need for government to work together in a bipartisan manner and that things have to change.
Whether or not Ryan means it, I have no idea. I don’t think that any Speaker would take office and say to their opposition across the aisle that they aren’t going to listen to their ideas and that they would rule the government like a mad tyrant.
To be fair, I don’t think that Ryan wants to run the government like a mad tyrant. However, I don’t necessarily think that he’s going to be as buddy-buddy with Democrats as he says. He has incredibly staunch views on things like deciding what to do about Planned Parenthood, revamping the tax code and immigration reform.
All things that are going to need to be tended to very quickly, are incredibly important, and are going to likely be fought by Democrats at every turn. John Boehner once described the job as the Speaker of the House as a losing battle. In an interview with Face the Nation, Ryan disagreed.
“I don’t believe that. I think you can win this fight. I think if you offer the people of this nation who believe that this country is on the wrong track – because it is – if you offer them a bold alternative vision of how to get this country back on the right track…yes, I believe we can re-limit this federal government and give people the kind of freedom and opportunity that they deserve,” Ryan said in regards to the “fight” before him.
There are great deals of things that Ryan believes that I disagree with wholeheartedly. That being said, I hope he succeeds. I hope he succeeds on the basis of what he is saying at the current moment. I’m hoping that he realizes the faults of John Boehner and is truly more willing to work with Democrats to get our government working efficiently again.
I hope that when a new budget is needed at the end of 2016, there is not the threat of a government shutdown. I’m probably wrong. I’m probably going to be letdown. But I’ll give him the chance. Maybe we can work together on this one.
The Xavierite Editorial Board
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