Stay the Course

"Stay with us. Stay the course!"
--Col. Harry Burwell (The Patriot)

When the Tea Party first came about, these pages posited that its partnership with the GOP establishment would be fleeting. A couple of years later, the inevitable clash between Tea Party libertarianism and mainline Republican statism found collegiality fraying.

The infighting hit epic proportions this past week when a small group of Tea Party-oriented members of the House, called the Freedom Caucus, refused to bow to pressure and support the poorly designed Trumpcare health bill. The bill was pulled from the floor on Friday when it became clear that, without Freedom Caucus buy-in, Republicans did not enough votes for passage.

Predictably, GOP bureaucrats and pundits were pointing figures at the Tea Party reps even before the bill was pulled.

For lovers of liberty, the Freedom Caucus stand is cause for celebration. Because these people refused to compromise on first principles, they kept an enormous piece of big government legislation from moving forward...at least for now.

Here's hoping that Tea Party reps continue to stay the course. Perhaps they will influence their colleagues to do what truly needs to be done at this point to move American healthcare back toward its roots in voluntary exchange: full repeal of Obamacare.