Opportunity to rein in the federal government and Barack Obama’s thirst for power

Speaker in Waiting John Boehner faces quite a few daunting challenges as he goes about the job of organizing the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, not the least of which will be forging an overall consensus on the direction his GOP membership wants to take over the next two years.

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If he pays heed to the concerns of the mainstream media - which would be a monumental mistake - he'll strive to seek an overall arrangement with the Obama White House that will be dominated by a series of compromises over the more pressing issues that divide the two parties. That won't work. The President has made it clear that he will not abandon his pursuit of quasi-socialist big government solutions to the nation's more pressing problems, many of which are the result of his attempts alter the very nature of the nation he now governs. Those attempts to alter radically the nature and structure of this nation provoked an anger among the American people which was only partially expressed on election day. That discontent remains and will not be easily dispelled. The American people have been roused from their disinterest in the actions of a federal government they have long seen as remote and distant from their everyday activities and concerns. It has finally dawned on them that what happens in Washington can affect every aspect of their lives, and a huge number of them have reacted with a sense of alarm accompanied by a resolution to set things right. That's what all those Americans who voted to send hordes of Democratic members of Congress back home and chose Republicans to replace them want - a conservative Congress that will go about the job of setting things right. That means slashing the federal government's budget unmercifully. Since any attempts to abolish any government Department or agency will inevitably mean a presidential veto the only effective mechanism is the use of the House's power to either authorize spending or withhold such authorization, thereby starving it into inaction. So let's have a flurry of defunding the useless Department of Education; the arrogant leftist government propaganda outlet NPR (National Public Radio); The utterly unnecessary Department of Commerce; the out-of control Environmental Protection Agency, and that's just for starters. Let Congress go over every budget request with a fine-toothed tea party comb. If it can be cut, go ahead and cut it. In other words begin the process of taking America back to the era where the Constitution of the United States was the supreme law of the land. This may be the sole opportunity to rein in the federal government and Barack Obama’s thirst for ever more power. Let Congress take it while the gettings good.