The “deal” by which Republicans surrendered on every substantive issue raised in the debate over the budget, was made in the Senate.

When a Political Party Abandons Its Principles

by Bruce Frohnen

[A political party is] a body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavours, the national interest, upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. —Edmund Burke

All too many people in the mainstream press, and even among the Republican Party faithful, have been expressing extreme relief that Republican Party leaders “compromised” with Barack Obama and Harry Reid to end the “shutdown”—or, rather, the partial shutdown that included the closing of national parks, web pages, and other federal “services” that cost approximately nothing. Some serious concerns were expressed, of course. The federal government’s credit rating has been an issue for some time, now—though one might think profligate spending and unimaginable debt might have something to do with that as well. Concerns over national security in times of financial disarray also have bothered a number of people.

Nonetheless, the notion that we all should be thankful that the “adults” in the Republican Party leadership were able to “rein in” those crazy Tea Party folks and “save” responsible government rests on assumptions about government and party that should not go unquestioned.

Burke penned the definition of a political party quoted above at a time of massive corruption, in which bribes were habitually used to gain votes, numerous seats in Parliament were controlled by powerful aristocrats, and the King maintained influence over legislation by naming members to meaningless but lucrative posts. It is said that we have no such overt corruption in our politics, now. Those who serve in our Congress claim to be above reproach even though, like Harry Reid, they may begin their public careers as paupers and end as multi-millionaires “in the people’s service.” But Burke knew the difference between principle and corruption, and so should we. Burke sought to shrink the list of “offices” the King could control and otherwise lessen the role of corruption in public life. He devoted years of his life and much political capital to the prosecution of Warren Hastings, the head of the East India Company, for his victimization of the Indian people, knowing that his efforts almost certainly would fail, but seeking to awaken the conscience of a nation before mistreatment of another people further corrupted its own.

Burke, at least, had principles.

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