You Won't Have Paul Ryan to Kick Around Any More

       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.

Deep State, Deep Doo-Doo

       Many of O.B.'s supporters are fond of the term "deep state."  Their conspiratorial leanings incline them to believe that government employees exist primarily to frustrate the goals of the Trump Administration.  Somehow, previous Republican administrations never suffered from career government employees, but this one does.
       Naivete about how government functions seems to be a big problem with the alt-right, "populists," and other assorted Trump acolytes.  Non-military government employees are usually Ivy League graduates.  As a function of their origin, they obviously lean left.  They are career employees, as opposed to the political appointees every administration gets to install.  O.B.'s intention to radically cut the number of State Department employees no doubt incenses people who earned advanced degrees in International Relations with an eye to public service.  It also seems ill-advised in a world where diplomacy beats bloody slug-fests every time.  Even Ronald Reagan realized that the State Department served a vital function in preventing armed hostilities!   So if there's a war with the deep state, it's one that Trump started.
       Just as how O.B.'s supporters enjoy saying nasty things about Republican legislative leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, they enjoy fantasies about saboteurs in Federal office buildings, plotting against the valiant patriots in the West Wing.  This manichean view of politics suits the uninformed and those who enjoy talk radio careers.  The latter are largely responsible for the simplistic views of most Trump supporters.  One might well say that Republican voters are less informed after 25 years of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.  Their impossible standards of right-wing purity would be impossible to meet in a legislature, where compromise is a necessary tool of government.  This is why right wing crackpots say idiotic things like "Paul Ryan is a liberal."  Paul Ryan is a person who has to cobble together governing majorities on every issue.  This means that in order to govern, even subhuman bottom feeders like Bela Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to have some of their desires met.  It's called democracy--look into it!