Editorial: A Victory for Hardliners In Congress

The resignation of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner, is a demonstration of the power of the most conservative wing of the Republican party. It is a success for hardliners who push for inflexible and extreme positions, and see the negotiating tendencies of its legislative leadership as treason.

It appears that the danger of a government shutdown because of failure to approve a budget has vanished. There are enough Republican congressmen supporting a short-term budget extension, even if it funds the apple of discord, Planned Parenthood. That might be a defeat for legislators who do not mind shutting down the government in order to push their agenda, but what tastes like victory is the hope that a new leader will better address their main concern: Supporting their relentlessness in passing their proposals into law, as well as blocking the Obama administration every step of the way.

The party’s base discontent has been boiling over for a while, due to the inability of the GOP majority in both chambers of Congress to pass budget and tax cuts and more restrictive immigration laws, among other projects. This frustration is also reflected in the presidential primaries.

But there is little the next Speaker of the House can do to change this. The problem is not the leaders’ lack of fidelity to the conservative cause, but the absence of enough republicans to impose their projects without making concessions. Boehner’s successor will face the same dilemma: either give in to Tea Party pressure and stoically endure government shutdowns that harm the party’s image, or patiently seek a negotiation.

There is a crisis in Congress due to the divisions within the majority party. The “damage to the institution” that Boehner seeks to avoid does not come from the Democrats, but the GOP bench. The threats of all-or-nothing politics and my-way-or-government-shutdown, have produced an inoperative Congress that is unable to address the problems of the American people. The prospects for an improvement are not good. The Republican majority will most likely bang its head against the wall, harming everyone concerned, before common sense returns.