Is Party Disloyalty a bad thing?

That’s the name of the JBS Weekly Member Update which I received on Sept. 22nd, 2014.

I sometimes read some of the stuff published by The John Birch Society (JBS).  Their Is Party Disloyalty a Bad Thing caught my attention.

In the featured article JBS links to the following report:

Townhall.com (Sept. 19th, 2014): Report: GOP Leadership Considering Rules To Punish Party Disloyalty

In the Townhall report they link to following report:

National Journal (Sept. 19th, 2014): Possible Rules Change Could Punish Boehner Dissidents

It appears that this is a concrete proposal, not just some informal discussion, and if adopted it will mean that any Republicans who vote (on the House floor in January 2015) against the Republican Conference’s nominee for House Speaker (the candidate chosen by a majority of the House Republican Party during its closed-door leadership elections in November 2014) they will be severely punished. Punishment for “dissenters” (what a word for it) includes, though is not limited to, being stripped of all committee assignments for that Congress.

Did the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, John Boehner (R-OH), have anything to do with the creation of this proposal?  According to the National Journal (linked in the foregoing):

“It’s unclear the degree to which leadership is involved with pushing the proposal. According to Republicans close to the situation, the plan was not authored by or circulated within Boehner’s team. Instead, they say, the speaker’s allies in the rank-and-file are promoting the idea as a way to avoid another awkward display of intra-party rivalry at the start of the 114th Congress. Still, it’s difficult to imagine Boehner’s friends moving forward with such a drastic plan without his approval, if not support.”

My thoughts, very brief, are provided below:

1.

       Members of US Congress should be allowed to vote freely and without fear of reprisal and/or punishment.

2.

       Adopting a policy which allows the US Government to punishing someone (Congressman/woman or normal citizen) for their vote (including a vote for House Speaker) would be an exceedingly unwise, reckless and thoroughly inadvisable precedent to set.

Where would it end?

Please exercise your free speech in the comments section below. There are no stipulations of political correctness on this blog. Speak your mind, give us your thoughts, both objective and subjective. Share your ideas, hunches, inklings or your expertise. Please provide recommendation and corrections if you spot errors in fact within the blog report. Lastly, remember that posting a comment is much like casting a vote, so please do so.