Why the Next Speaker Should Tackle Patent Reform

Speaker John Boehner will retire at the end of this month, and in so doing, will mark the decisive end of an era of Republican politics. Boehner, who first stepped up to the plate to replace Tom DeLay, was in many ways a creature of the same Bush-era style of Republican politics. That is, a Republican politics dominated by special interests, carve-outs, and old school wheeling and dealing, or as George Will memorably termed it, K Street conservatism. At its best, this school of politics was pragmatic and able to form broad coalitions to tackle important issues and maintain Republican dominance. At its worst, it was, as Will wrote, a politics of “exuberantly serving rent seekers.”

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