UPDATE: Peggy Noonan has a very serious column today on the Republican schisms. Her point is that Bush broke the consensus of te party on a number of issues, including spending and immigration. I think she is right.
The 2006 loss of the majority in Congress might have chastened the Republicans to mend their high spending ways. It doesn’t seem to have done so if this Robert Novak column is accurate. The focus is on earmarks, a practice in which members of Congress assign spending items to favored parties, often campaign contributers.
This practice is not new as this column points out. After the 2006 election showed the price of such corruption, there was talk of reform. The history of earmarks shows a steady climb the past decade. When the Democrats took Congress, they promised reform but that appears to have been an empty promise. If Republicans are ever going to regain the majority, this would seem to be a significant issue. After all, conservatives tend to oppose government spending. If Novak’s prediction is correct, it seems we will have a long wait. There have been suggestions that Bush simply cancel them as they are not part of the legislation. Since the Republican caucus seems unlikely to appoint Jeff Flake, an enemy of earmarks to the Appropriations Committee, that may be our last chance at reform.