Republicans on the Brink
(This WSJ op-ed was written yesterday, before the recent events..)
By Daniel Henninger
Back in the old era of American politics the highest goal of Republicans or Democrats was to win the presidency and to control both houses of Congress. With what the ancients then called “control of government,” the victorious party would enact legislation reflecting its beliefs and ideas.
After the 2008 elections gave Democrats control of the executive and legislative branches, they passed the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial reform act, which together reordered great swaths of the U.S. economy. That’s what control of government looks like, and it is rarely achieved without internal party discipline.
(snip)
But total control doesn’t last long... The Democrats are an exhausted party. All their leading figures are about 70 years old, and the party’s theory of public policy is older than that. As a result, the Republicans six months ago were on the brink of winning the White House back from an unpopular president and the uninspiring Hillary Clinton, while holding both houses of Congress. In control, the Republicans could legislate based on their beliefs—about ObamaCare, the tax code, spending, rampaging bureaucracies, even the federal subsidy for Planned Parenthood. That’s what winning looks like in American politics—or used to.
But we have been beamed up into new political times. Ironically, the new era of American politics looks a lot like ancient Rome—bloodlettings, betrayals and mass spectacle.
John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, has just suicided his political career in the middle of a presidential campaign. On Thursday, the GOP’s House members will vote a nominee for speaker, with the long knives always within reach. The three declared candidates are Kevin McCarthy of California, Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Daniel Webster of Florida. More discussed so far than any other public issue is which of these might commit to the cliff-diving thrills of another government shutdown.
Meanwhile, the party’s base has elevated three amateurs to the top of its presidential nominating process— Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina. Two successful governors— Rick Perry of Texas and Scott Walker of Wisconsin—have dropped out. John Kasich, the high-achieving two-term governor of Ohio, whose voters have been on the wrong side of a presidential outcome only once since 1944, languishes at next to zero. Today, the odds that the Republicans will win big in November 2016 are less than even. A GOP that was on the cusp of controlling the presidency and Congress has instead decided to present itself to American voters as a party of factions and niche players.
(snip)
Mr. Boehner is no longer speaker in large part because of opposition to his leadership from 40 to 50 House members called the Freedom Caucus, led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. In an interview Tuesday with the Journal editorial page, Rep. Chaffetz said the disaffected members believe “the heartland hasn’t seen us fight” for conservative ideas and policies.
(snip)
That public vacuum cost John Boehner his job.
But the Freedom Caucus wants more. It says after big election gains in 2010 and 2014 the GOP “did nothing” to stop Mr. Obama. What they really mean—and most of them seem to know it—is that the leadership didn’t do more to resist Mr. Obama. They know that absent an even larger Senate majority, nobody was going to stop Mr. Obama because the Founding Fathers inserted a frustration called presidential veto power in the Constitution—despite an age that settled political disagreements with duels and when mobs tarred and feathered opponents.
Perhaps the age of the electronic mob has arrived. There’s money in the political fight game. Still, one may ask: Is the point of elected office to get credit for fighting or for reviving the country? The GOP has one more election—and only one—to get that answer right.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-on-the-brink-1444257460
= new reply since forum marked as read
Can we push them off the cliff? Pretty please? The buzzards will clean up the mess. 
in which the sagacity of both Newtonian and Einsteinian principles of gravity are once again proven with a vengeance.
