The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers has been busy the past couple of weeks. I know this because I get three or four emails a day from her office telling me about all of her activities. These emails also keep assuring me what a great world we'd live in if only those darned Demo- crats would quit being so unreasonable.

As The Times was going to press, much of the federal government was still shut down and federal debt limit was getting closer and closer. The Republican leaders in House of Representatives have refused to allow a vote on a measure that would extend the federal budget and keep the government operating unless it also includes a clause to defund, delay or otherwise impede the implementation of Obamacare.

In her emails, McMorris Rodgers claims to be stunned (stunned, I tell you) that the Democrats refuse to sit down for a friendly discussion about the health care law, and budget deficits in general, while the government is closed.

McMorris Rodgers is chair of the House Republican Conference, and is fourth in line in the House Republican leader- ship. Because of that, she has been a visible spokesperson for her party's positions, as she's repeatedly let me know in her emails.

Here are a few tidbits:

"Republicans in the House are working every day to open up this government."

"Democrats still refuse to negotiate a solution. And the American people are paying the price because of it."

"Just because the president and Senate disagree with our solution doesn't mean they should refuse to come the table to work out our differences."

Here's my response to all of that: You need to put the pin back in the grenade first, Cathy. What if Democrats insisted on shutting down the govern- ment until Republicans agreed to have serious discussions about comprehensive national gun control? Would Cathy be blaming her Republican colleagues and criticizing them for not rushing to the negotiating table? I doubt it.

If someone came to my house and threatened to blow it up with both of us in it, I probably wouldn't be receptive to sitting down for a friendly chat about their demands. Think of the precedent that would set. Every time somebody wanted something from me, all they'd have to do is show up with explosives.

If the Democrats were to cave to the tactics of conserva- tives in the House who insist on shutting down the govern- ment in order to get their way, a precedent would be set that would be very damaging to the country. Some day the Repub- licans will be in charge again. They need to remember that.

No matter what I (or you) think of ObamaCare, it was established through a proper constitutional process. For those who want to undo it, there are proper constitutional processes to accomplish that without resorting to extortion and blackmail.

The way for Republicans to get the policy changes they want is to win elections. Yes, that's a long-term process, but it will probably never happen on a national level if they con- tinue to insist on threatening us with grenades.

I think it would be really nice if our representative to congress, who is in a visible leadership position, would have the gumption to stand up to the firebrands and tell them the truth: that their tactics are damaging to the country and probably won't have the desired effect anyway. Unfortunately, her personal ambition within the party won't allow her to do that.