The job of restoring the Constitutional importance of Congress is the most daunting task in the American government. For over a decade, its traditional function of designing the nation's finances has been usurped by the executive, resulting in atrocities like the continuing resolutions and the most recent pork-filled omnibus bill. (Thank you, Chuck and Nancy). Paul Ryan fell victim to the same system that ground up John Boehner. At one point I blamed Boehner for the continuing resolution mess. Now Estase realizes that the system is so broken that it is a superhuman effort for one man to try to normalize our Constitutional system.
It would be ideal if we had a President who understood and respected our Constitutional system. Instead, we have one whose understanding of such is shaky at best. It is also unfortunate that fixing the system means that the President needs to use his power to reduce his power--a sort of Lord of the Rings situation. Orange Blatherskite is probably not the man for that job.
So what you have is a situation that would vex the strongest and wisest of men. Richard Nixon famously said upon leaving the vice presidency, "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more." People have been monstrously unfair to Paul Ryan, inferring that the size and expense of the government is something he was comfortable with, or that he is a "liberal." In reality, the only way to avoid absolute gridlock is to give Chuck and Nancy some of their desires, including the bitter pill of abandoning those whose whole reason for voting Republican was to defund Planned Parenthood. The GOP base is rightly pissed, and it remains unclear whether the Republican voter will even bother to show up in November, seeing as how Chuck and Nancy seem to win in any event.
The constitutional abuses that have existed for the last decade make the Speaker of the House a man with a hopeless, thankless job. Under the Constitution, as written, he should actually be the most powerful man in government, exceeding even the President. It is not clear that this is a problem that can be remedied, and Ryan can be excused for wanting the peace of mind that comes from not attempting an impossible job.
It would be ideal if we had a President who understood and respected our Constitutional system. Instead, we have one whose understanding of such is shaky at best. It is also unfortunate that fixing the system means that the President needs to use his power to reduce his power--a sort of Lord of the Rings situation. Orange Blatherskite is probably not the man for that job.
So what you have is a situation that would vex the strongest and wisest of men. Richard Nixon famously said upon leaving the vice presidency, "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more." People have been monstrously unfair to Paul Ryan, inferring that the size and expense of the government is something he was comfortable with, or that he is a "liberal." In reality, the only way to avoid absolute gridlock is to give Chuck and Nancy some of their desires, including the bitter pill of abandoning those whose whole reason for voting Republican was to defund Planned Parenthood. The GOP base is rightly pissed, and it remains unclear whether the Republican voter will even bother to show up in November, seeing as how Chuck and Nancy seem to win in any event.
The constitutional abuses that have existed for the last decade make the Speaker of the House a man with a hopeless, thankless job. Under the Constitution, as written, he should actually be the most powerful man in government, exceeding even the President. It is not clear that this is a problem that can be remedied, and Ryan can be excused for wanting the peace of mind that comes from not attempting an impossible job.
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