COLUMN: Is it time for a new statesman?

Have you heard of Daniel Webster?

No, not the 19th century senator and statesman whose name is recognized by many of us even if we would have a hard time reciting his accomplishments.

There’s another Daniel Webster in our nation’s capital, and if you’re like me you never heard of him until recently. Rep. Daniel Webster has represented the 10th congressional district in Florida since 2011 and previously served 28 years in the Florida Legislature. He is a conservative Republican.

Webster announced on Monday that he is running for speaker of the House to replace John Boehner, who recently announced his resignation. Chances are, Webster has no chance to win the election as speaker for the same reason why he is running in the first place — the entrenched power brokers in the Capitol don’t want to see reform of a system that has enriched them personally, protected them politically, and corrupted them morally.

Webster is running for the speakership against Kevin McCarthy, who represents California’s 23rd district. Supposedly, McCarthy has the election locked up, though heaven knows why. Since he was one of the top henchmen in Boehner’s “reign of error,” you’d think Republicans would politely ask him to not only withdraw from the race for speaker, but also resign from his post as House majority leader.

Instead, it looks as though Republicans will once again shoot themselves in the foot by elevating someone to their most powerful office, second in line to the presidency, who is ill-equipped to carry the argument against President Obama’s leftward-lurching agenda that promises to hobble America for the rest of the century.

Why? What has Kevin McCarthy done to earn the respect or trust of the American public? What ideas does he champion? What battles has be fought? None that I know of, which makes me uncomfortably confident that McCarthy is nothing but a stalking horse for the GOP elite who follow powerful interests rather than powerful principles.

Webster, on the other hand, appears to be a different breed altogether. In fact, he told Breitbart News that his one desire in running for speaker is “to have a principle-based, member-driven Congress. Period.”

For those of us who are old enough to remember when Congress mattered, that is a refreshing thought. Protecting the power of Congress as an equal branch in our tri-partite constitutional system of government used to be a sacred honor that transcended partisan politics, but these days politicians only want to safeguard their own power and prestige, and seem to care about neither the Constitution nor the country.

They certainly don’t seem to care about the people, and they represent not the people who voted for them, but the parties that protect them.

What Webster wants to do is make the members of Congress take responsibility for getting something done instead of waiting for the House leadership to apply last-minute Band-Aid solutions to problems that threaten the very foundation of our government. If you are under the age of 30, you may never have even heard of an appropriations bill. That used to be how Congress would fund the departments and agencies of the federal government. The Defense Department, Transportation Department, State Department would make their best argument for funding, and Congress would make serious decisions with serious repercussions about what would be funded. In other words, Congress would make policy.

Today, instead of appropriations bills, instead of a budget made by serious people who take their responsibilities seriously, we have something called continuing resolutions. A continuing resolution is congressional surrender, acknowledging that the dysfunctional Congress cannot make decisions or policy, so they will just throw money at the federal government and hope the wheels keep turning.

Well, the wheels are falling off, and the people know it. Now it is time for our leaders to acknowledge it too, and the people are restless to see that honest appraisal from senators, representatives and presidential candidates. It is no accident that outsiders like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are attracting so much support. No one trusts politicians. Period.

But Webster says he’ll make real changes.

“The key is to take up the most important issues first. Instead of squandering the first hundred days... we [begin] with the appropriations process, that’s number one. If you’re an Appropriations Committee member, you’d work day and night,” Webster said.

In addition, he intends to restore the regular order of the House, instead of concentrating all the power in the hands of the speaker and his minions. That means members will be able to bring bills before their committees and then before the entire House. The people’s representatives will decide on policy, not Czar John Boehner or King Harry Reid.

Webster calls this a “member-driven, principles-based process,” and noted correctly, and sadly, “I think I’m the only one promoting that — actually, I’m sure of it.”

It seems to be a lost cause, but as Jimmy Stewart reminded us in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” they are the only causes worth fighting for.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. If you don’t like his opinion, stop by the office and he will gladly refund your two cents. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com