Did you know that House Republicans are strongly pressured to pay dues to the GOP leadership?  It is very reminiscent of unionized closed shops, where thuggish union bosses force everyone to pay dues, even those who don't support the union.

Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) told members that subcommittee chairmen are expected to pay their dues to the GOP’s campaign arm and to side with leaders on procedural votes that are critical to their ability to control the party’s legislative agenda[.] ... [H]is message seemed squarely aimed at one lawmaker: New Jersey Rep. Scott Garrett. A Hensarling ally who chairs a prized Financial Services subcommittee, Garrett has angered GOP leaders and many members of the committee. He voted against Boehner’s bid for another term as speaker, bucked leadership on a critical procedural vote and has refused to pay National Republican Congressional Committee dues.

Garrett at first claimed that he didn't pay  his dues because the NRCC recruits and supports homosexual candidates.  But then it was revealed that Garrett himself donated money to a homosexual Republican candidate, so that excuse didn't last long.

Garrett first responded that his procedural vote against leadership was a matter of conscience. Then he stunned the room with this explanation: He had not supported the NRCC in the past, he said, because it actively recruited gay candidates and supported homosexuals in primaries.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a member of leadership who led the NRCC’s candidate recruitment during the 2014 election cycle, said that Richard Tisei, a gay Republican whom the NRCC supported, was “equally homosexual” when Garrett donated directly to him in 2012, according to a source present.

How comical is it when a Republican claims to stand on principle, and then other Republicans, who don't stand on principle, point out that the Republican who claims to stand on principle is doing the exact same thing they are doing?

In the end they squeezed the money out of Garrett by getting him to donate indirectly to the NRCC.  It was a face-saving solution that would have made Henry Kissinger proud.

Exit questions: Do you think Republicans should be forced to donate to the Republican Congressional Committee under threat of losing their subcommittee chairmanships?  Doesn't this seem just like a shakedown operation run by petty union bosses?  Do you think the House of Representatives should become a "right to work" legislature?

This article was produced by NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.