Robert Ehrlich is senior counsel for government advocacy at King & Spalding. He is the former Governor of Maryland and former U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District.
Federal Newswire:
What are the benefits of new terms for governing the House of Representatives that Republicans demanded of the new Speaker?
Robert Ehrlich:
I came from the state legislature. There was regular order there. There had to be. Our session was 90 days. So I believed in a regular order and to some extent, we actually got that accomplished in the Newt Gingrich era. We passed a lot of appropriations bills. So the omnibus bills were smaller. Regular order, basically, is pass all your appropriations bills, get it done, do what you're supposed to do, what you get paid for, not just hang out for two years, make statements, throw spitballs to the bleachers, and then at the end when everybody's panicking, throwing an omnibus together and all the bills that have been hanging around for two years, just throw them in, too. Nobody's going to read it. Nobody's going to know what happens until weeks later. So again, the 72 hour promise as well is part of the new rules package. It's all good in my view. So I do think it's a return to, I'm not going to say regular order, but something closer to regular order. Something closer, something more detached from chaos, which I think is a step in the right direction.
Federal Newswire:
How much of a problem is created by members of Congress voting blind on bills because they didn’t have time to read them?
Robert Ehrlich:
Let's be honest, no congressman in this era or in recent eras is going to have the time to literally read bills. What we're talking about here is the fact that you and your senior staff, your personal staff, let alone your committee staff, aren’t informed as to what's in the bill. Right?
You're not going to sit, you wouldn't have enough time in a day, in a week, in a month, to literally read all the bills. So when we talk about reading bills, we're really saying knowing what's in the bills. The fact of it is when you have these 1700 page monsters passed in the middle of the night and deals were cut secretly in back rooms, which is still the way it occurs, you have no idea, nor does your Chief of Staff, and often neither does your committee staff know what's in the bill. You’ve got a problem, let alone reporting what went down to your constituents.
Federal Newswire:
How can the legislative system be improved?
Robert Ehrlich:
Going back to the state legislature, I came from an era of state legislature where we actually drafted our own bills. How about that? I had one part-time staffer as a member of the Maryland legislature. So I go to DC and there is no real regular order. There's supposed to be regular order, but that’s the deal and we had a single subject rule in our state legislature where we could only really throw Christmas tree bills together. So again, I'm not saying we're perfect, and I'm not saying Republican control of either of both houses is perfect. What I am saying is something closer to regular order is a good thing for the taxpayers and transparency.
Federal Newswire:
You were a stand-out football player in college, and you’ve made public statements about what you describe as a “war” on youth football. Why has this been an area of focus for you?
Robert Ehrlich:
There's a war against football, and there's really a war against youth football. I don't understand all of it. I think it's ultimately going to be unsuccessful, as the culture war unfolds and you see the left winning on various fronts, they haven't made much progress on football, which I think is a good thing.
In Anne Arundel County, Maryland here, there was a movement a couple years ago to eliminate [full-contact tackling or] hitting for 7-year-old and 70 pound football players. My wife led the charge against that. She met with the county executive and convinced them this is a bad idea. They're safe for 70 pounds anyway, the coach after each play literally goes around and picks up the kids and sets them in. The coaches are on the field. They're learning how to play football. They're learning how to tackle, they're learning good habits.
This is also a sport where you need not just fathers, you need real coaches to teach the kids safe technique. So the bottom line here is, I don't fully understand the war. I guess it's the war against masculinity.
I don't really understand the mindset, but I do know that athletics generally, I don't care what sport you're talking about, it's good for kids. It's great for kids. Whether you're especially talented as a guitar player, as a shortstop, as a kick returner, as a poet, I don't care what you are. But the ability of kids to achieve some sort of success somewhere, somehow at an early age really helps form you and inform you and I think it's a good thing in life.
Federal Newswire:
Do you believe it is tied to broader efforts to undermine meritocracy, the idea of judging people objectively on their merits?
Robert Ehrlich:
I think it's a part of it. It's also why it fails. It's also why the war is failing and the other thing is the product is so good. We're talking about two different things here. We're talking about how young boys especially benefit from maybe getting hit and learning to be tougher and learning to win, learning to lose, learning to practice, learning the discipline and the self-control and all that stuff, and all the work that goes into a pretty grimy sport. That's all good. But also America loves football because the product is so good. It's fun. Look at those two semifinal games in college this year. There's a lot wrong with the NTA. There's a lot wrong with college football. But the product isn't one of them.
I like watching high school football and sandlot football even more, and the other thing here is, and we haven't talked about this a whole lot, but as far as the lessons learned, bringing kids together, nobody cares what race you are. Nobody cares where you came from. Nobody cares what you look like. Nobody cares about anything other than, "Hey, this is my teammate. We're going to win. We won," or, "We lost together." It's competition, it's sort of what's prototypically American, and I don't want to get all squishy here, but it's a good thing.
Federal Newswire:
What’s behind the efforts to undermine meritocracy in your view?
Robert Ehrlich:
Well, our intellectual elites practice compromising when it comes to meritocracy. Athletics, not just football, but athletics generally is the ultimate meritocracy. If you're good, you play. If you get more points, you win. It's not complicated and I think that appeals to just about everybody, I would hope. This whole thing about not keeping score and feelings and all that, it's just not life. It's dangerous. Where'd this stuff come from? I know where it came from, college campuses.
Federal Newswire:
If the concept of meritocracy erodes further, what’s the larger impact on society?
Robert Ehrlich:
Well, we're not breaking new ground here. You get a kid, you're an insulator, a child, give them a trophy, give her whatever, and say, "It's okay, it's not that important. We didn't keep score. Just do your best, blah, blah, blah.' When they go to a job interview, they're not prepared and they can't handle failure. You have to be able to handle failure. Half of this is about handling failure in life, not just success. We tend to focus on success. The Buffalo Bills lost four Super Bowls. A lot of successful players. But what do people remember? They lost four Super Bowls. It's handling competition. Again, in my view, successful human beings are successful competitors. That does not mean you win all the time. It means you compete all the time.
Federal Newswire:
You also have spoken out about ways to improve schools? Why are schools underperforming and what more is needed to help them succeed?
Robert Ehrlich:
I am truly passionate about giving, and not just through the prism of sports, but life. I see dysfunctional schools when I see generation after generation of kids literally sentenced to these schools and they don't graduate. They go to the juvenile system and many end up in the adult system, and everybody says, "Oh, we're shocked. How did this happen?'
It happens generation after generation. That's our problem. We have failed these kids and [education] is not a privilege, it is a constitutional right. We've failed to deliver on these constitutional rights as Governors. This was my passion, trying to get failing schools better, but not just failing schools, because the taxpayers and those kids are customers, and we're failing our customers and we're failing them with a fundamental right, we're not delivering that fundamental right.
So those who protect the status quo, those who say, "More money, more money, more money," it just doesn't work. I'm for all of the above when it comes to getting kids out of bad schools, because they're not learning, and as a result they can't compete, and as a result they're not going to be successful in American society.
Federal Newswire:
How would the notion of competition be applied to improve schools? Ideas like vouchers have become a left-right issue.
Robert Ehrlich:
Well, it shouldn't be a left, right issue. It should be a purple issue and by the way, I think sometimes on the right, we fail to distinguish between teachers and unions.
My youngest son just graduated from public school in Annapolis, Maryland. He was a fine student, fine athlete. Some of the best teachers I've ever seen. This is a major public high school, over 2000 kids. My kid got a really good education in that environment. So we have to distinguish between teachers' unions and teachers. Most teachers are there for the right reason. I just believe there's a role for public schools, there's a role for parochial schools, and there's a role for private schools.
It should all be about competition. One kid may be better in this school, another kid may be better in that school, but when we're talking about schools that are functioning, it's a different conversation. We need to focus on the fact we're not delivering constitutional rights to kids in the failing schools and that's what the debate should be. That's where the focus needs to be. Right, left, I don't care, it needs to be all of the above. Sometimes closing a particular school, going public charter, going residential charter, I don't care what it is if it works and it gets kids to learn.
The three Rs…reading, writing, arithmetic, right? If it gets kids to understand how important competition is in the classroom and in life and preparation and discipline and all that good stuff, we know it's all for the good. Stop defending the status quo. As a matter of politics, I love the fact it's now becoming more of a Republican issue. My hero, Jack Kemp, [talked about] making the Republican party look like America. Education was so important to him–he continues to be my hero, by the way. I think he was a great leader for my generation in Congress and needs to be remembered more.
Federal Newswire:
What do you make of this story out of Fairfax County, Virginia, about the magnet school, Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology, that withheld information about qualifying for the National Merit program from students?
Robert Ehrlich:
The accusation is, they didn’t notify the kids who did well in National Merit because they didn't want to let the kids who didn't do so well get hurt feelings. Who thinks this way? The excuse appears to be, "Oh, well, the kids won't know, but we're going to let the colleges know." But that way everybody gets a trophy. I can't even understand where that comes from. But to the extent it gets out there, to the extent that not just red parents, but blue parents react, to the extent it just gets condemned by everybody across the political spectrum–that's a good thing.
Federal Newswire:
Do you think whichever party tackles these “kitchen table” issues is the party that's going to get the kitchen table voters?
Robert Ehrlich:
What is more important on that menu at the kitchen table than how my kid's doing in school? How my kid's doing in the classroom, how my kid's doing in extracurricular activities, what my kid's going to do after high school?
Federal Newswire:
You’ve also spoken about the importance of parents in maintaining strong communities. How concerned should we be by the fact that single-parent homes are a significant reality across America?
Robert Ehrlich:
Just look at the numbers; they say it all, and you're right. [Parents are needed] just to be around: "Did you do your homework tonight? Did you go to practice? Did you get there on time?" Just sitting around the dining room table, the kitchen table, "What did you do today in school?" "Who's your date for Friday night?" It’s what parents do.
I spent a lot of time in juvenile facilities and in the adult ones while doing our criminal justice reform programs while Governor of Maryland, and I saw the results. I saw the tangible results of lack of parents in households, and that hasn't changed since I was in Congress, since I was in the state legislature from 50 years ago.
Federal Newswire:
How well do our campaigns work in terms of elevating these critical issues–do they make a difference?
Robert Ehrlich:
Well, sometimes we tell ourselves how great we are because our candidate won the debate. And look what's happening at the, just take the border, for example. The fentanyl, the sex trafficking, the empowerment of the gangs. There's literally no defense to what's occurred there in the last [few] years. Nothing and no one is talking about this, by the way, displacement of semi-skilled American workers by unskilled cheap labor. No one even talks about that and you think the Democrats might actually want to talk about that, but they don't.
So there's literally nothing good that comes of this, just human misery. The migrants aren't treated very well. It's all just a bad deal and nobody really carried it off at the midterms. It didn't really switch a whole lot of vote[s]. So something's wrong here–either with our message or the way we message, I think the substance of our position is correct. But clearly the way we message and the way we conduct elections is not going well.
