The House Will Miss the Distinguished Gentleman from San Dimas

Politics has a ruthless, dare I say intrinsically Machiavellian, nature. Every decade the House of Representatives goes through a redistricting process that reassigns and redraws the parameters for each of the 435 congressional districts in the United States. Partisans use this decennial process to target members of the opposite party through “gerrymandering” the district lines to make reelection virtually impossible. 

Edmund Burke would see this level of destabilization as a threat to the protection of society’s liberty, no case of this could be more clear than that of Republican Congressman David Dreier of California. The sixty year old Dreier was first elected in the election of 1980, one of the most senior and well respected members in the House of Representatives, Dreier was placed into a new district that is now one of the most democratic in the entire nation. David Dreier, longtime Chairman of the House Rules Committee, was forced into retirement.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier 

Dreier has had one of the most interesting and well regarded congressional careers in recent history. A known pragmatist, willing and able to work across the aisle, is exactly the type of thoughtful leader we need in Washington to face the fiscal hurdles we have today. David Dreier is an institution in the United States House, he has a deep love, appreciation, and admiration for “the People’s House” and has shown this passion over the course of his distinguished career. 

I think it’s fair to say- if you haven’t gathered it already from reading this post- I’m a “House nerd.” The majesty and tradition of the United States House, as both an institution and a legislative body, fascinates me and sends chills up my back. This is the body that declared Jefferson the 3rd President of the United States. The body that led the fight for the 13th Amendment, declaring all men equal under the law. The body that serves as the American citizenry’s direct voice in crafting the policies that govern our country. 

As we enter the last weeks of Chairman Dreier’s service to his district and our country, my mind drifts back to last Summer’s Balanced Budget Amendment debate. As Rules Chair, Dreier leads the Republican’s debate on the guiding rules of every piece of legislation that the House takes up. This means his expertise needs to encompass everything from budgetary matters, to immigration, to foreign affairs. Adding a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was one of the Republican’s primary goals during the first Summer of the 112th Congress, and Chairman Dreier broke ranks, opposing the amendment. The video below is Dreier’s floor speech during the BBA debate, while I supported and continue to support adding a Balanced Budget Amendment, I view this speech as one of the greatest floor speeches of all time. His argument is built around and epitomizes the role and tradition of the House. 

When we first read Burke, it reminded me of this floor speech, Dreier is an embodiment of the House of Representatives and forcing him from office is in a very real way a revolution. Dreier is known for addressing his House colleagues by their home city, opposed to just the state they represent, as you see in the above video, this is just one more aspect of his command over the House institution. It goes without saying, the distinguished gentleman from San Dimas will be greatly missed when the 113th House convenes in January.