New Whip in Town

Others have noted that State Rep. Mark Martin (R- Prairie Grove) has started a new blog, adding to the trend of legislator bloggers. What seems to have gone by without comment is that he has himself listed as the House Minority Whip. That's a new one. He was NOT the whip when that tobacco tax went through.

The charming name "Whip" is a good indicator of what a thankless position that job can be. It is the duty of the whip to get members of a given party to stick together on critical votes. In this instance, a mental image of herding cats comes to mind. Not necessarily domestic ones either.

The GOP is on the run. I don't know how many cards any whip has to play when big business and the media and a highly medicated public all want to massively expand government, even though we clearly can't afford the government that we have now. Heck, the guys who run the GOP on a national level want to expand it too, as long as it is for their friends. Can a whip get anyone to fall into line in that environment? Can the rush off the government spending cliff be stopped in that environment? Well, we believe in miracles here I suppose.