Column: What The Next Speaker Must Do
我成长于俄亥俄州辛辛那提一座山丘上的小房子里，有11个兄弟姊妹。我父亲经营着一家名叫“安迪咖啡”(Andy’s Cafe)的酒吧，是我祖父安德鲁•博纳(John Boehner)在1938年开的。我们不是很富有，但对已有的一切都心存感激。我们对华盛顿也想得不多。
这一切在我经营一家小企业的时候发生了改变（我最终把它打造成了一家成功的企业）。我从亲身经历中看到政府是如何阻碍创造就业、扼杀繁荣的。这促使我与政府打交道，并最终进入了国会。
许许多多美国人也有过同样的体会。他们在华盛顿身上看到了权力的傲慢(请问哪一个国家的民众看不到本国权利所带代表的无端傲慢与偏执？)。他们看到国会不倾听民声，掌控它的领导人似乎不问现实，不屑理会甚至鄙视美国人对他们政府的愤怒，以及美国人在就业状况不佳的经济形势下所面临的种种挑战。
过去两年中，政治版图已经被永久重划了。民选官员的贪大求全──体现为庞大的“刺激”支出，永久性的援助，以及各种强制纳税人补贴不负责任行为的政策──已经唤醒了我们国民性格深处的某些东西。这导致公民们爆发了要求政府缩小规模、增强责任的激进运动，并在周二的选举中对华盛顿说不。
I grew up in a small house on a hill in Cincinnati, Ohio, with 11 brothers and sisters. My dad ran a bar, Andy’s Cafe, that my grandfather Andrew Boehner opened in 1938. We didn’t have much but were thankful for what we had. And we didn’t think much about Washington.
That changed when I got involved with a small business, which I eventually built into a successful enterprise. I saw firsthand how government throws obstacles in the way of job-creation and stifles our prosperity. It prompted me to get involved in my government, and eventually took me to Congress.
Millions of Americans have had a similar experience. They look at Washington and see an arrogance of power. They see a Congress that doesn’t listen, that is ruled by leaders who seem out of touch and dismissive, even disdainful, of the anger that Americans feel toward their government and the challenges they face in an economy struggling to create jobs.
The political landscape has been permanently reshaped over the past two years. Overreaching by elected officials — in the form of pork-laden ‘stimulus’ spending, permanent bailouts, and policies that force responsible taxpayers to subsidize irresponsible behavior — has awakened something deep in our national character. This has led to a surge of activism by citizens demanding smaller, more accountable government and a repudiation of Washington in Tuesday’s elections.