by Judith Gayle
After three months of Saturn dinking around in the last degrees of Scorpio, the Lord of Karma is racing through Sagittarius, fanning fires, taking necessary twists and turns and delivering the logical consequences of our actions. Case in point? Just when you thought the torpor of the American political process couldn’t get worse, it did.
All the anxiety over the government going unfunded again — the previous shutdown of this decade costing multi-billions in lost revenue — has fallen back to sheer amazement over the train wreck that is the House of Representatives.
I would have said leadership in the House, but a) there isn’t any, and b) it isn’t the leaders that are the current challenge. When John Boehner threw in the towel, no longer willing to try to bring his fractured party members together, he made plain his dilemma: the fringe of his membership had gone delusional, born in the cradle of FOX News paranoia and dedicated to achieving things they couldn’t possibly deliver without damaging the nation along with their party’s brand.
John called them ‘false prophets,’ which accurately captures the religious zealotry with which they’ve pursued that end. This is the same internal fracture that has resulted in the current crew of Republican presidential candidates, all but one or two of them unsuitable for national leadership.
Boehner had trusted the Republicans down the line to pick up the slack. Pubs are known for their ability to maintain a stable of likely prospects, groomed, well-financed and able to step up when it’s their turn at the gate. But that tradition has broken down since our Dubby was handed the presidency by errant Supremes. And that was before the Bagger movement fractured party priorities, and prior to the advent of the radical and unyielding Freedom Caucus.
The House Freedom Caucus is composed of the hard-core zealots who fly in the face of compromise of any sort, blaming Establishment politicians like Boehner for making any attempt to govern. They did not come to Washington to keep government running, they came to kill the beast — and they’ll take down anyone who gets in their way. While the Caucus itself is small, it carries a big stick: primary challenge. This has turned out to be a surprisingly effective tool to keep even old-timers like John McCain and Lindsey Graham in line with radical goals.
Boehner’s presumptive replacement, Kevin McCarthy, stumbled badly when he admitted that the Benghazi investigations had been successful in lowering Hillary’s popularity numbers, creating accusations of excessive and expensive ‘gotcha’ politics from the left and of sheer political ineptitude on the right. It’s also worth noting that rumors of sexual mischief on McCarthy’s part poisoned the water with the Caucus, who issue regular purity tests to their colleagues. Given all that, it’s no surprise McCarthy decided to pass, declaring the Baggers “ungovernable.”
The last time we had such a defection upon resignation of a speaker, we got House Speaker Tom DeLay, a bug exterminator from Texas who professed to know the mind of Gawd Almighty and George W. Bush, and served both faithfully in attempting to dismantle what was left of the common good established as The Great Society. His blanket refusal to consider any concerns of the minority party defined a period when the Republican machine simply rolled over anything in its path, paving the way toward the morass we find ourselves in today.
Since then, we have made little progress toward restoring economic equity to the public or mending our tattered social programs, and the Freedom Caucus has plans to make that even more painful for us all. Some say this is that place where the fabric rips beyond mending, where the Republican party becomes so regressive that the average American can no longer trust them to deliver on their behalf, and perhaps it is so. It’s difficult to see how they find common cause with those who want government to run efficiently — or run at all, at this point.
Anyone can become House leader; it does not require congressional membership. Some have suggested Mitt Romney could fill Boehner’s shoes. Some have said why not tap outgoing retirees to take the job, short-term, since they wouldn’t be forced to pay the price later (being primaried and replaced by someone farther to their right.) Insiders are begging Paul Ryan to step in, although Ryan has made it clear that he prefers digging into the complex minutia of the tax code to riding herd on Baggers — and this despite a loud and well-orchestrated plea from Establishment conservatives, terrified of any other outcome. Indeed, the few adults in the conservative party who see governance as an actual process, rather than a scourge on society, are beside themselves.
Nobody wants the job of House speaker, or almost nobody. You will probably not be surprised to discover that Newt Gingrich volunteered to step in for the good of the party and nation. And news today indicates that right-wing Pub enforcer Darrel Issa is considering the prospect of running to herd zealots, which isn’t much of a stretch since Darrel has spent a lifetime — much as has FOX’s Roger Ailes — creating them.
Issa has a long and checkered past, the kind that earned him a place on the CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) list of most-corrupt politicians even before he hit the tragedy in Benghazi like an ill wind. As Charmian of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, his select committee witch hunt of AG Holder’s failed Fast and Furious weapons experiment — while coming to little except expense and wasted time — earned him a favored place among the radicals, but few friends in Establishment politics. His tireless vendetta against all things Obama, as well as the IRS, sweetens the deal on the far-right. Interestingly, Issa was replaced on Oversight by none other than Jason Chaffetz, the ideologue who was determined to go up against McCarthy’s bid for speaker. Darrel’s been looking for a better fit since, and — always an opportunist — he seems to think he’s found one.
Yes, as a politician, Issa is dangerous. As speaker, that would be an understatement: Darrel siding with the radicals to bring the “real fiscal reform they’ve been denied by the K Street, if you will, influence.” Read that: government shutdown. But no matter who takes this position, this is the Republican Party’s moment of implosion. It’s not going to get better from here.
This kind of musical chairs is just so much internal busy-ness to those who consider Establishment politics a waste of time and energy, but it takes on a different gravitas when you consider how far up the leadership pecking order House Speaker actually is. Put plainly, as a piece over at PoliticusUSA was titled, “A Tea Party Fascist Will Be Second In Line To the Presidency By Halloween.” Perhaps this is worth our attention after all!
As of now, nobody knows how this situation will shake out. But it seems part of our explosive astrology, this fine mess coming right on time, predicted and expected and, some would say, part of the purge that is separating the gold from the dross on the evolutionary scale, tearing the blinders off all but the deliberately ignorant and fearful. Politics is a mirror — an overview — of the dysfunctional relationship dynamics that play out in our private lives, from our boardrooms to our bedrooms. We’re getting a very well-deserved look at ourselves, and it ain’t pretty.
Perhaps this is the part where realization comes flooding in, where we face ourselves and grow up a little. Perhaps we can get real, surrender our hubris and arrogance and dance where karma leads us. Karma, a.k.a. that long, slow, earned and needed learning curve that sensitizes us to all we would project onto others. Karma, the often painful experience that must eventually lead to renewed understanding and synthesis.
Getting a grip on how perfectly positioned we are to get that glimpse of reality might provide us a breakthrough, if we’re willing. Truly, if the Phoenix is to rise out of these ashes, we need to acknowledge how much has burnt down. What is not sustainable, not ethical nor compassionate, must be released, and a new template for the future put in place. That is the work ahead.
As our Len tells us in his latest piece, we’re poised on “the grandmother of fresh starts” this coming Monday morning. If enough of us have learned the steps to the dance, aware of what must be left behind, consigned to the past — if enough of us are eager to create our future in harmlessness and collaboration, ethics restored, hearts open and mindfulness engaged — it will be an excellent beginning.
As we are released from old errors and unworkable decisions, progress is assured. And it’s comforting to remember that it’s only a small number of the planets population that is thwarting our desire to create a prosperous and peaceful world. As it was with each of us, those who aren’t ready for change are still learning the dance, held safely in the patient arms of the Lord of Karma, who knows all the steps.
