First, a question, and I apologize if it sounds ignorant, but first an honest question and then some thoughts about my congressman, the top Republican politician in the country. The House is trying to pass a bill concerning taxes that the Senate already passed. Did there used to be a requirement for tax legislation to start in the House? Anyone feel free to please advise me, I'm sure if there were a real problem one of the many Constitutional scholars running for the GOP nomination would have addressed it.
By my last check of the FEC website I haven't seen a filing by any Democratic candidate to challenge John Boehner in the Ohio 8th. I can only hope that 's not happening because this is the biggest upset of 2012, the biggest story of 2012 behind only the president's reelection. This is to discuss the theory of the case.
You can drive around the Ohio 8th and you won't see the John Boehner Bridge, or the John Boehner Highway, in fact, on any day you would be hard pressed to find John Boehner the person. Speaker Boehner has a well deserved reputation for being anti-earmark, for not getting pork for his district. There's a flip side to this coin. Always using the interests of the 8th district as a bargaining chip has paid off well for the Speaker personally. Ignoring the people who put him in office has allowed him the chance to immerse himself in the politics as usual world of Washington. However, this isn't just about an out of touch politician. It's what Boehner has been doing with himself while governing in absentia that makes this the perfect election for the time. This is the personification of what has been going wrong in Washington. Boehner as Speaker is the extreme test of the Peter Principle. He is the 3rd ranking official in the nation while he has skill set more suited to running the pro shop at a local country club. Although to be fair, I do bet he would be awesome at that job.
Boehner gets a ton of money from Wall Street but if he had his way farm subsidies would get cut. It's easy to defend this as being against corporate give aways but the Ohio delegation should be looking farther. If someone like Monsanto doesn't get money from Washington that expense gets passed on, and the first stop is with farmers who do the work of farming that is still getting done. Agriculture is Ohio's biggest industry. Politicians who like to go on and on about debt can save it; no one needs to tell our farmers about debt. The farmer has always been the most exploited member of our economy. This is an absentee congressman who has been voting against mortgage relief and farm subsidies while defending tax cuts for the rich and endorsing the plan to end Medicare. All the while he serves as a leader of the mess we call Congress. Voters of the 8th district can reconcile their vote with their view of Washington's politics as usual by unseating the man in the middle of the Washington dysfunction.
This district has counties called Butler, Preble, Darke, Miami, Mercer and now part of conservative Clark County. The largest population center is a city in Butler of about 80,000. This is not easy territory for a Democrat to get elected. Miami County was one of the few places that passed Issue 2 last month. Defeating a Republican on this turf, not to mention the top Republican, first requires an objective appreciation for the difficulty of the task. Boehner cannot be outspent. The southern half of the district is in the Cincinnati market and the upper portion is in the Dayton media market. In this area though, a few hundred dollars in gas money, a lot of shoeleather and some well executed town hall meetings can do more than a 100,000 dollar ad buy. By way of messaging a Democrat in these parts can make the necessary distinction from the White House, not by disavowing healthcare reform, but by pointing out that the President and the Speaker are too soft on China and attempts to call them out on currency manipulation. The reason American politicians don't want to check China on currency manipulationn is because it makes it harder for us to manipulate ours.
If there is a Democratic city council member, county commissioner or school board member in the district who wants to advanced his or her career in the pursuit of restoring fairness in America, starting with the Ohio 8th, I am at your disposal. Talking points, canvassing, driving help, whatever I can do to help make history.
P. S. I don't do it because I have a forty hour a week third shift job, a 17 year old drug felony and can't possibly muster the filing fee.