In William Golding’s classic novel “Lord of the Flies,” the ill-fated Piggy asks a fateful question, at a moment when he and the other boys stranded on the island are teetering between anarchy and civilization.
“Which is better,” he asks, “to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?”
The boys decide it is better to hunt and kill, even if those they hunt and kill include each other. These days, asked much the same question, Republicans in Congress are supplying much the same answer. They want no part in rules or agreement, and the anger and frustration once directed at President Obama is now targeted instead at anyone who would pretend to lead them or tell them things they do not wish to hear.
John Boehner? Gone. Mitch McConnell? If they had their way, he would be next.
And where does it all end? In the novel, it ends when the adults finally find the island and come ashore, aghast at what they find. But I don’t think this real-life re-enactment of Golding’s novel is going to end so tidily.
Certainly, nobody believes that John Boehner’s forced departure as speaker resolves any of the tensions within the Republican Party or between the Republicans and Democrats. Quite the contrary, the scent of blood is in the water and the sharks are looking forward to their next feeding. In addition, nobody expects that a new House leadership team — including the elevation of Roswell’s own Tom Price as House majority leader — will be able to guide his caucus through challenges that caused the more wily and experienced Boehner to throw up his hands in frustration.
In an interview Sunday on “Face the Nation,” Boehner sharply criticized those in his own party and movement whom he dismissed as “false prophets.” As he noted, “we have got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know — they know — are never going to happen.”
That’s certainly part of the problem. Those “false prophets” range from politicians such as Ted Cruz, radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, media outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News and activist groups such as the Tea Party and Heritage Action. They have spun out a narrative in which the overwhelming majority of Americans support their far right agenda — they do not — and only betrayal can explain why that agenda is not being enacted. Together, they constitute a perpetual frustration machine that cannot ever accept compromise or agreement because compromise and agreement would destroy their business model. It’s what they profit from and feed upon. They exist to create expectations that can never be met, then reap the benefits of that frustration. That will not change, and they are not going away.
What must and will change, eventually, is the power that they wield. The trajectory that they demand of the Republican Party is irresponsible and unsustainable, and the fracture within the GOP that Boehner avoided by stepping down has only been temporarily delayed. At some point, important elements of the party will decide that they can no longer pay the blackmail that is demanded of them by the ultra-conservatives, and at that point we’ll learn how this will end.
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