Back in 1974, Muhummad Ali managed to defeat a younger, stronger, heavily favored George Foreman using a strategy now known as Rope-a-Dope. Basically, Ali leaned back on the ropes, using them to absorb the force of Foreman’s blows, until Foreman got tired. Then Ali came off the ropes and knocked Foreman out.
I think Democrats are trying to do something similar to Republicans with bills like HB 1389, which seeks to punish people who, among other things, leave their dogs outside for ‘too long’, when it’s ‘too cold’.
Now, this is just an inane piece of legislation. And it will be vetoed by Governor Sununu. And that veto will be sustained. And everybody knows this. So what is the point of introducing it?
Some have argued that this is just virtue signaling. Others have argued that it’s just pre-emptive campaign activity, which I suppose is kind of the same thing. (‘Look how woke we are! If only we didn’t have a mean Republican governor, we could be remaking New Hampshire into a paradise.’)
But I believe that the point is to get people to waste time, energy, money, and other limited resources fighting it — to tire them out, so to speak. I have several friends who, in response to calls to action in social media, have written or emailed or called their representatives. Some of them are planning to take time off from their jobs to drive to Concord tomorrow to testify against the bill.
Of course, none of that will have any effect (unless you consider how burning all that gasoline will affect the climate). Democrats vote en bloc, so this bill will end up on the governor’s desk. And he’ll veto it. And the veto will be sustained.
But they’ll do this same kind of thing for other similarly pointless bills, like bills to raise the minimum wage to $15, or outlaw plastic bags at grocery stores, or limit the length of retail receipts, and so on. And by the time the next election rolls around, they will be tired and discouraged and burned out on politics… and, like Foreman, ready to be knocked out.
I think there’s a better way to handle this situation.
Instead of punching themselves into exhaustion, what Republicans in the legislature should do is simply ignore the rest of the session. Stay home, let the Democrats pass the most extreme versions of whatever bills they like, let the Governor veto nearly everything, and show up to sustain the vetoes.
Why should they do this?
Again, let’s use HB 1389 as an example. It’s already been amended once, a change that hasn’t made it any less stupid, but which will appease some small number of people who would have been affected. However, simply by playing along, the Republicans will become co-owners of the bill.
That is, it will no longer be the case that ‘Democrats passed HB 1389’, but rather, ‘The House and Senate passed HB 1389’.
What difference does that make?
I believe that one of the main reasons that Democrats are in charge of both houses of the legislature right now is that during the last election, a lot of Republican voters, tired of watching majority RINOs cooperate with minority Democrats to steal their liberty and property, asked themselves: If this is what Republicans do, why bother to vote for them?
By helping the Democrats tinker with legislation like HB 1389, and even by just showing up at committee hearings, or on voting days, Republicans are making two big mistakes. First, like Foreman, they’re allowing themselves (and their supporters) to be lured into throwing a lot of unnecessary punches. Second, they’re giving the Democrats cover by accepting partial responsibility for everything that happens, even though they have virtually no control over it.
On the other hand, by staying home until it’s time to sustain the Governor’s inevitable vetoes, Republicans would take a highly visible step towards re-establishing their claim as ‘the party of small government’; and they would allow the Democrats to assemble an impressive catalog of material for Republicans to use during the next campaign. (‘Did you see some of the bills they passed? Those guys are insane.’)
You can’t beat someone who is playing rope-a-dope by punching harder, or throwing more punches. You have to step back, and let him come after you, giving you a chance to counter. That’s what George Foreman should have done in Zaire in 1974, and it’s what Republicans should be doing here and now.
Republicans, don’t be like George.
