Government in the United States has been compared to sausage — you might enjoy eating it, but you do NOT want to see how it is made. In both Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, there are wheels inside of wheels that turn every which way before laws or regulations come forth. In the past decade, those from the conservative side have found themselves such a minority that their voice is hardly heard at all. The only way to get heard is to cry out in one voice.
This has happened with the House Freedom Caucus that was formed in January of 2015. Ohio’s 4th District Congressman Jim Jordan was the first chairman, and 44 out of the 212 Republicans in Congress at that time joined this group. Their purpose was to do more than the Republican Study Committee. The problem with this committee was that they did exactly that — they studied. They have proposed an alternative budget every year since 1995, and back in 2007, they offered a “Taxpayer Bill of Rights.” But something with more ‘bite’ was needed. Though the numbers of the Freedom Caucus have been small, in just the past few years, the influence of the House Freedom Caucus has been felt. With more members, it is expected to have even more impact in the upcoming 117th Congress.
Pennsylvania has a large footprint in this organization. The Freedom Caucus originated during the mid–January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania. There is only one Pennsylvania congressman currently on the House Freedom Caucus, Scott Perry, but he is also Chairman. And on November 28, 2022, Pennsylvania joined seven other states of the State Freedom Caucus Network by forming a Freedom Caucus in the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
To commit to a structure as this must come from deep conservative convictions. Truth be told, most legislators prefer not to be pinned down to keep their options open. (Remember the sausage analogy mentioned above). Thus, out of 113 Republican Pennsylvania Assembly Lawmakers, only 23 joined the Freedom Caucus in November 2022. One of these was one of our own local officials, Joe Hamm, who represents the PA 84th District.
This is not hard to imagine, as Joe Hamm is the most conservative legislator in Harrisburg. I noted this in a tribute to him in my column some months ago. It is not just my opinion. The American Conservation Union rates every legislator in the House and Senate in all 50 states every year. This is a blind rating; the elected officials do not know which pieces of legislation the ACU chooses in their evaluation. Joe Hamm ranked #1 in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate. This means that in the entire General Assembly of 50 Senators and 203 Representatives, Joe Hamm is the most conservative of them all.
Joe Hamm has only been in office for two years, but he admits to being quite frustrated with the way things work in Harrisburg. Just recently, when he voted “no” to the state’s budget that would increase spending by $5 billion, he was chastised by his fellow Republicans. But Joe voted against the budget because he had done his homework. The Independent Fiscal Office itself recognized that the state’s taxpayers would be worse off because of the budget and that there would be a structural deficit of over $3 billion in the next five years.
But now, with the support of the Freedom Caucus, there will be others who will be standing tall and drawing a line in the sand. With the forward encroachment of socialism from Governor Wolf, which will inevitably be continued by incumbent Governor Shapiro, there was never a time when such a voice is needed as now. Joe Hamm says it best, “The louder, stronger, and more unified we are as a bloc will ensure we are heard.”
In these times that my father-in-law used to describe as the “drunken sailor” government for its lack of accountability and abandonment of simple reason, Joe Hamm’s voice of wisdom and prudence is one that needs to be heard.
