Writing On The Wall

The writing is on the wall. Are Republican politicians smart enough to read it?

Read "The clever GOP strategy for defeat in November" in today's WSJ OpinionJournal.

If Republicans lose control of Congress in November, they might want to look back at last Thursday as the day it was lost. That's when the big spenders among House Republicans blew up a deal between the leadership and rank-in-file to impose some modest spending discipline.

Unlike the collapse of the immigration bill, this fiasco can't be blamed on Senate Democrats. This one is all about Republicans and their refusal to give up their power to spend money at will and pass out "earmarks" like a bartender offering drinks on the house. The chief culprits are the House Appropriators, led by Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis of California and his 13 subcommittee chairmen known as "cardinals." If Republicans lose the House--and they are well on their way--Mr. Lewis deserves the moniker of the minority maker.

It is a sad fact that the Republicans in Congress (and the White House) have lost their political compass when it comes to spending.

It used to be that voting Republican meant a vote for fiscal conservative doctrine. Now it appears that the leadership in the Republican Party has its nose buried as deeply in the public trough as the overspending Democrats. When it gets right down to it, in monetary policy, there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two.

A category five political storm is building in GOP precincts around the country, and it is going to blow Republicans right out of the majority in November if they don't soon give their supporters some reason to re-elect them. So far this year they've passed limits on free speech that liberals love, but they haven't been able to extend the wildly successful 2003 tax cuts by even a mere two years. And now they won't even allow a vote on budget reforms that their own President and a majority of their own Members support.

At the current pace, a Democratic majority in Congress would be preferable, if only for reasons of truth in advertising.

Ain't that the truth.