The United States Government appears headed toward another shut down.
This is déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Bera would say.
Rewind to December 1995. Newly-installed House Speaker Newt Gingrich faced off against centrist Bill Clinton, a president humbled by the Republican Revolution.
Facing a Republican House and Senate, it appeared that Clinton would have to fold and accede to more cuts than he was willing.
Yet the President and the media spinned the impasse to make it seem as if Gingrich's arrogant childishness terminated any meaningful compromise. The media especially had a heydey with the allegations that Gingrich stalled on talks because he was snubbed for preferential seating on Air Force One during negotiations.
All of these petty points of dispute mask the underlying problem: The Republicans failed to articulate a coherent message spelling out the need for real government reform in taxation and spending. They failed to make the legimate sell to the American People that the United States could not continue borrowing and spending beyong its means.
This argument requires rigorous simplicity and tenacity, beyond Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) prolix display boards and Glenn Beck's ranting and raving. The citizens of this country deserve to understand that hemmoraging budget deficits, enormous national debt, and wasteful entitlements hurt the productivity of the American Economy, impoverishing current generations and dooming our future.
Today, now more than every, the Republicans must press the immorality of deficit spending in all facets of government, which has grown far beyond its constitutional scope.
Despite the handicap of controlling one chamber of Congress, the dire necessity of take charge of the outlandish federal budget is even more pressing. With the surge of TEA Party activism and civic outrage at bailouts, handouts, and corruption, House Speaker John Boehner and his caucus have greater leverage to force more cuts and demand long-term fiscal responsibility from the United States Government.
Let's hope that they do not lose focus as the Republican majority did fifteen years ago.