“Plan B”

The U.S. House decided to head home in order to celebrate the holidays after Speaker Boehner and the GOP leadership failed to gather enough votes in support of “Plan B, a last ditch effort by the GOP leadership to try to avoid the “fiscal cliff”.

“Plan B” failed, and its Republican opposition celebrated the fact that principles had triumphed over political games. Supporters of the proposal lamented the fact that the opposition had allowed stubbornness to triumph over reason and pragmatism. On social media, the battle continued between different factions of the Republican Party.

Regardless of whether one supported or opposed the measure, an overwhelming majority of Republicans agree that it was an imperfect plan designed to deal with a difficult problem. Republicans across the political spectrum are all looking for ways to advance limited government, some more than others, and to keep taxes low.

At times, Republicans will disagree on how to proceed in order to best advance the cause of limited government. This was certainly the case with “Plan B”. There is no doubt in my mind that both supporters and opponents to “Plan B” can strive for limited government, they just disagree on how to best achieve that goal.

Congressional politics is often a mess, and at times it comes down to choosing between two options that both have considerable negatives attached to them. “Plan B” was such a choice, and I can see why anyone would have chosen to support or oppose the measure.