The announcement by Speaker of the House Ryan (R-WI) that he’s retiring at the end of this term suggests that the most extreme Speaker we’ve seen in a century has discovered the party is zooming along to the right, and has passed him by.
One of the attributes of a right-wing extremist party is the hunt for a strong-man to lead them in preference to the complex, slow-moving structure of a democracy or republic. After all, the end point of the right-wing, the terminus of the right side of the political spectrum, is fascism, wherein the strongest person who, non-incidentally, happens to be best at ignoring all rules and conventions and laws in their relentless gathering of power, becomes the all-powerful leader who can do things for his followers.
In this case, the extremist base of the GOP has, ironically, selected one of the weakest Presidents in modern history as its flag bearer, and left Speaker Ryan with little power or influence. Since his position as Speaker is being steadily diminished, mostly through is own inadequacies as a leader as shown at the House’s non-contribution to the failed AHCA bill, and its irresponsibly rushed passage of the Tax Change bill, he might as well leave. His inability to bring his caucus together, and the low quality of the legislation which passed through the House, will forever be on his name.
No doubt the polls showing a disastrous upcoming mid-term election for the Republicans is also influencing his decision, as serving in the minority would be a distinct ego-deflator – if, in fact, he achieved re-election at all. He would be facing challenges from both sides, as I’m sure he would have had a serious primary challenge from those who view him as a RINO (!), and then faced the problem of an energetic Democratic candidate and backers who might very well overwhelm him.
So Speaker Ryan has chosen to exit with some shreds of dignity, rather than be ousted in much the same way as former House Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) failed in an upset primary loss 4 years ago. This is a signal to contemplate two thoughts.
First, is this the beginning of the end of the United States as a democratic republic, or is it another marker of the end of the GOP as a valid American political party?
Secondly, this should be a big red flag to the moderate Republicans who belong to the Party and insistently vote for the GOP candidates blindly. Your party is not anything near what it used to be, and it’s walking away from Democracy itself. Is this a path you really want to walk down?
