The media in general and political pundits in particular have written a raft of articles and columns about the government shutdown on Monday at midnight. Most of the blame has been focused on the Tea Party anarchists in the Republican House Conference and their de facto Speaker, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas. It’s hard to disagree that these Republican radicals have managed to turn the legislative process on its head.
What this minority of about one-third of the Republican majority in the House has done is refuse to accept the facts of the situation, that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is law now and is operating as law, that the Supreme Court has weighed in, examined the law, and found it constitutional, and that President Obama was re-elected in 2012 by a significant majority of the population by running on his record of passing the ACA. These are the facts on the ground.
So these radical politicians who were elected in mostly gerrymandered congressional districts dominated by older whites and political conservatives to a degree far above the norm in the general population have staged a palace coup. They reason, if we can’t do this legally (overturn the ACA), then we will hold the government (and ultimately the nation) hostage until the President and the Democratic Senate give in and agree to overturn the law.
This is an act of constitutional apostasy that must have our Founding Fathers turning over in their graves. If these Tea Party Anarchists do win and manage to overturn a law that was passed, reviewed and has gone into effect, I shudder to think what other radicals in the House in the future might do to get their way when legal and constitutional methods fail.
That brings me to the Speaker of the House. Never in our history has a minority been allowed to rule the legislative process as they are now doing. Speaker Boehner like all his predecessors has the power to submit the Senate’s clean continuing resolution to the full House for a vote and no one, not even the Republicans in the House doubt that it would pass.
Why would Speaker Boehner accede to the Tea Party takeover? I can find no explanation other than that he fears being deposed by this minority of the Republican Conference as Speaker. Given this situation, I find it hard to avoid judging Speaker Boehner for what he is, a nice man but a mediocre political leader who has risen above his level of competence and because of his weakness and fear of losing his power has allowed his Tea Party anarchists to shut down our government by blackmailing him and other Republicans in the House into going along with their position.
We can only hope that moderate Republicans begin to act in the face of this terrible threat to the reputation and brand of their party. These Tea partiers care nothing for the Republican Party and they care little for their country. They cannot be allowed to triumph in this situation, but must be dramatically and publicly rebuked and defeated, with no olive leaves to allow them to save face.
Boehner must wake up to the implications of his continuing application of the Hastert rule and must return to the rule of the majority, not of the Republican Conference, but the majority of the House of Representatives. This is what representative government and democracy means. These Tea Partiers have every right to vote their conscience, even when it is a demonstrably minority position, but they cannot be allowed to rule the House.
They must be voted down and rebuked by their own party, but more than that, Boehner and his leadership team must be rebuked and their cowardice and lack of political exposed for what it is, crass opportunism. None of the House leaders believe in the positions of the Tea Party and it’s time for them to stand up to the tyranny of the Tea Party anarchists and allow majority rule and democracy to prevail, before more damage is done to our government and to our country.
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Reflections on our Times 