When the 8th most conservative man in Congress is not conservative enough to be the speaker of the house for the GOP you know the party has drifted too far to the right. Fellow progressives, do not be so quick to celebrate John Boehner’s resignation. Things are not about to get better, they can only get worse from here on out. What we are witnessing is the result of years of a rightward drift that has culminated in the capitulation of the Republican party’’s reins to it’s most extreme elements. John Boehner’s resignation announcement may have partly averted a government shutdown over planned parenthood funding but at what cost?
While Boehner was a less than effective speaker of the house (from a progressive perspective) and while very little consequential legislation was passed under his watch, we have little reason to believe his resignation will herald the coming of an age of compromise and dynamic governance. In fact, we have every reason to believe the opposite will occur. Boehner’s loudest critics following his resignation announcement are conservatives, not progressives. Consider the reaction of conservatives at the Values Voter Summit where Senator Marco Rubio announced Boehner’s resignation. That is the sound of jubilee, not mourning. Progressive legislators in the house and senate are less than enthused over Boehner’s pending resignation, as they should be. Who could possibly follow in Boehner’s footsteps? Certainly not someone more willing to compromise. It was the perception among conservatives that Boehner was too willing to compromise with President Obama that led to his downfall.
John Boehner may have not been the speaker conservatives wanted but he was most certainly the speaker they needed. Boehner managed to keep a party that believes shutting down the government is a legitimate form of governance in line. We have a party with an extreme wing holding it hostage (the tea party) that believes a shutdown that cost the United States economy an estimated 24 billion dollars is a legitimate strategic model. What will follow Boehner’s resignation is more of the same; more threatened shutdowns, more do-nothing legislation, and more wasteful hearings over manufactured controversies. This extreme element has a painfully unrealistic worldview, if they do not get their way – if legislation is not of the most extremely conservative variety – they will jettison it. This unwillingness to compromise is not conducive to good governance. Even John Boehner acknowledged and respected this aspect of our Republic when he stated, “Our founders gave us a system of government, a majority in the House, you need 60 votes in the Senate. If the House and Senate can agree, the president gets to decide. And our founders didn’t want some parliamentary system where, if you won the majority, you got to do whatever you wanted. They wanted this long, slow process. And so change comes slowly, and obviously too slowly for some.”
This fundamental understanding of our government’s design, that change comes in increments and cannot be forced through by shutting down the government or being unreasonable, seems completely lost on the GOP. They have allowed the purely ideologically driven tea party to takeover and dictate what is good for their party and the nation. If Trump is the spirit of the tea party made real, John Boehner’s resignation is the harbinger of the GOP establishment’s abdication of power to the tea party. We cannot expect anything good to come from John Boehner’s resignation. Whoever follows him will be more than willing to shutdown the government, less than willing to compromise, and the personification of the most extreme elements of the tea party.
State Senate District 5 Gwinnett
Moderation in the GOP, a Dying Strategy
October 7, 2015 — 5th District Blog Posts and CommentsWhen the 8th most conservative man in Congress is not conservative enough to be the speaker of the house for the GOP you know the party has drifted too far to the right. Fellow progressives, do not be so quick to celebrate John Boehner’s resignation. Things are not about to get better, they can only get worse from here on out. What we are witnessing is the result of years of a rightward drift that has culminated in the capitulation of the Republican party’’s reins to it’s most extreme elements. John Boehner’s resignation announcement may have partly averted a government shutdown over planned parenthood funding but at what cost?
While Boehner was a less than effective speaker of the house (from a progressive perspective) and while very little consequential legislation was passed under his watch, we have little reason to believe his resignation will herald the coming of an age of compromise and dynamic governance. In fact, we have every reason to believe the opposite will occur. Boehner’s loudest critics following his resignation announcement are conservatives, not progressives. Consider the reaction of conservatives at the Values Voter Summit where Senator Marco Rubio announced Boehner’s resignation. That is the sound of jubilee, not mourning. Progressive legislators in the house and senate are less than enthused over Boehner’s pending resignation, as they should be. Who could possibly follow in Boehner’s footsteps? Certainly not someone more willing to compromise. It was the perception among conservatives that Boehner was too willing to compromise with President Obama that led to his downfall.
John Boehner may have not been the speaker conservatives wanted but he was most certainly the speaker they needed. Boehner managed to keep a party that believes shutting down the government is a legitimate form of governance in line. We have a party with an extreme wing holding it hostage (the tea party) that believes a shutdown that cost the United States economy an estimated 24 billion dollars is a legitimate strategic model. What will follow Boehner’s resignation is more of the same; more threatened shutdowns, more do-nothing legislation, and more wasteful hearings over manufactured controversies. This extreme element has a painfully unrealistic worldview, if they do not get their way – if legislation is not of the most extremely conservative variety – they will jettison it. This unwillingness to compromise is not conducive to good governance. Even John Boehner acknowledged and respected this aspect of our Republic when he stated, “Our founders gave us a system of government, a majority in the House, you need 60 votes in the Senate. If the House and Senate can agree, the president gets to decide. And our founders didn’t want some parliamentary system where, if you won the majority, you got to do whatever you wanted. They wanted this long, slow process. And so change comes slowly, and obviously too slowly for some.”
This fundamental understanding of our government’s design, that change comes in increments and cannot be forced through by shutting down the government or being unreasonable, seems completely lost on the GOP. They have allowed the purely ideologically driven tea party to takeover and dictate what is good for their party and the nation. If Trump is the spirit of the tea party made real, John Boehner’s resignation is the harbinger of the GOP establishment’s abdication of power to the tea party. We cannot expect anything good to come from John Boehner’s resignation. Whoever follows him will be more than willing to shutdown the government, less than willing to compromise, and the personification of the most extreme elements of the tea party.