Elections.
Have.
Consequences.

And here’s one coming up, now: the incoming House majority will be establishing a rule that will give the House Budget chair the ability to set the spending ceiling for any 2011 budget.  This rule is currently causing House Democrats to freak out like koalas deprived of their eucalyptus leaves/junkies deprived of their heroin/hipsters deprived of their iPhones, for two reasons:

• The Democrats never passed a budget in 2010, so this is going to affect spending for this fiscal year.  A lot.
• Who is going to be the House Budget chair?  Why, Rep. Paul “Embrace the sweet pain that comes from cutting entitlements” Ryan.

And when I say “freak out,” I mean freak out: the Democrats are so upset about this that they’ve lost all control of their higher brain functions and have reverted to babbling about Social Security privatization.  And unilateralism!  We haven’t heard that one in a while.

More seriously, this is a good call: Rep. Ryan has a name for being a hardcore fiscal conservative who takes this sort of thing very seriously, and the country needs somebody with the moral strength to say “No” to people trying to raid an empty till.  That the House leadership is also giving Ryan the toolset that he’ll need for this is likewise welcome news… although not as welcome as the fact that they’re also genially mocking the Democrats for not passing a budget in 2010 (and thus giving the GOP a chance to start the Deep Hurting early).  All in all, a nice way to end the year, no?

Moe Lane (crosspost)