On the Other Hand …

I suggested earlier today that enough House Republicans should support the Senate fiscal cliff bill to see that it passes. But here's an email from a reader whom I know and respect:

I don't make a million dollars a year. I am small businessman with 200+ employees in a service business. We have made healthcare available to our employees since we started.

I have raised and given a lot of money to Republicans for 25 years. I have run for office and was a county chairman, member of RNC Finance Committee, and at times a Republican Eagle, Team 100 member, and so on.

I am a reasonable compassionate conservative.

A fiscal deal with $1 of cuts for $43 of taxes is worse than no deal at all. It ensures another decade of destructive Democratic rule. Perhaps by 2024 something constructive will arise from the ash heap of the Republican party. Character matters and the Republican leadership in the Senate have no character.

I fear for the future of my country and our democracy. The millions of us who voted Republican thought we were getting something better than a sniveling set of politicians who do not deserve to be considered part of the party of Lincoln.

The only support I will give in the future is to Republican primary challengers.

As a matter of policy and political calculation, I still think my counsel is sound. But to the degree members of the House are hearing something like this from constituents, and from serious constituents—couldn't they decide that counsel like mine is too calculating, and fails to capture a kind of elemental revulsion against this deal? In which case, the bill could go down.

But then what?