What To Do With The GOP?

Indiana House Republicans have chosen a bit of grandstanding over the work of legislating. Should I be tearing them up or praising them? From the Indy Star:

"Wednesday was the long-announced deadline for House lawmakers to amend Senate bills, setting the stage for final negotiations next week between the two chambers.

Instead, 60 bills failed to advance because the stalemate denied Democrats, who control the flow of legislation, the 67-member quorum needed to do business for much of the day."

My first instinct is to praise the Republicans, as I have earlier. After all, I have strong doubts that any of the 60+ bills before the house are the kind that will bring about smaller government. I have strong suspicions that these bills will bring bigger government, more intrusive government, and more expensive government, so anything anyone can do to jam a 70-lb. monkey wrench into the gears is something of a hero to me.

However, the GOP boycott has now extended into a second day, making it for me a glorious 1.5 bill-free days. The public, however, is going to begin to see this as inactivity. The public wants to know that the legislature is 'getting things done', and is increasingly aware that nothing is getting done.

It's probably time for an info campaign to let people know that getting nothing done is a comparative good thing. Still, pretty soon, the GOP is going to start to look bad. Today is the deadline for getting these bills passed.