A New York Times article asked, "Are there any adults in charge of the House?"

My question: Are there any adults in the House at all?

I mean, I like to think that people elected to the House of Representatives are educated, experienced, and worldly. At the very least, I believed that they would have a big-picture outlook accompanying their domestic policy ideologies. Apparently, I was mistaken.

The Republican Party understandably wants to live up to its freshly picked slogan as the Party of Fiscal Responsibility, but these cuts are juvenile and poorly supported, and this House reminds me more and more of that home-schooled hillbilly everybody whispered about  - but not too loudly, because he's probably packing (which may soon be possible nearly everywhere in Indiana).

Seriously - just look at some of these proposals:

More than 500 amendments were filed, mostly from Republicans trying to cut still more out of - or end - programs they dislike. One would stop paying dues to the United Nations. Others would cut all financing  for the health care reform law, or Planned Parenthood, or any foreign aid to a country that regularly disagrees with the United States at the United Nations.

What? Do these people have no idea how domestic politics work? Or international politics, for that matter! Representative Kristi Noem (R, South Dakota) blatantly stated, "A lot of us freshmen don't have a whole lot of knowledge about how Washington, D.C., is operated...And, frankly, we don't really care."

What? You can't just not care, or remain ignorant about the political system! Sure, you may dislike it, you may not participate in it, you may try to change it, but you have to KNOW IT. If you're going to wage war on Washington, even The Art of War says "know thyself, know thy enemy".

But these aren't the old, complicit members of Day Care the House, right? These new freshmen are always forward thinking, right?

Or not. Let's think about some of the consequences, both here and abroad. Republicans want to slash extremely important government programs or government sponsored endeavors. Internally, that means less investment in cancer research, fewer civil servants such as police and firefighters, fewer public schools, far fewer teachers, no reliable sex education or contraception, and fewer federal meat inspections! Externally, we would be aggravating already tense relations with other nations and possibly completely dismantling the political balance by impulsively cutting off countries as if we are their affluent parents. This isn't that episode of Friends, it's international politics.

The worst part is, none of this will pass in the Senate, let alone get ratified by the President. In short, all these Republican tantrums have been an exercise in futility. And a demonstration of political and intellectual immaturity.

They should post a sign:
Babysitter Wanted - Must Be Able to Handle Unruly Children Representatives.