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Showing posts with label John Boehner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Boehner. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Republicans And The-End-Justifes-The-Means in Politics

The damage the Republican party has done to itself by following the-end-justifies-the-means principle throughout speaker Boehner's tenure is unparalleled. In possession of the biggest majority since 1929, they succumbed to the Marxist policies of Barack Obama, undoubtedly the worst and politically and culturally most damaging president we all have seen and will ever see in our lifetime. The Republicans failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they didn't defund Planned Parenthood, and they let Obama get away with his destructive immigration policies. In fear of being blamed for government shutdowns, they avoided them, rather than going all the way and making clear to the public that the blame is on the dogmatically progressive president. 


In November 2013, I published an essay on the troublesome predominance of the ends-justifies-the-means approach in politics (https://www.edwinseditorial.com/2013/11/the-end-justifies-means-but-one.html). At the time, a host of domestic and international issues provided the profound background to analyze the damaging effects of a mere consequentialist approach in political decision-making. 

 

The performance of the Republican Party of the Congress since their landslide win in the Congressional Elections in 2014 adds a new chapter to the book of consequentialist horror. Not even conservatives comprehend that any policy disregarding the principles of righteousness and justice and aims exclusively at temporary opportunistic expediency is doomed to fail in the medium and long term. 

  

This treacherous path to yield and surrender principles the political right in this country is supposed to stand for appears to be continued with the election of Rep. Paul Ryan as the successor to John Boehner. Ryan has a reputation for being pro-amnesty and in favor of quite open borders. His support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (T.T.P.) trade deal, which has been coined "Obamatrade' by hardcore Republicans, is not popular in many quarters of his party. His softness and personal tendency to surrender became visible in his vice presidential debate against Joe Biden when Ryan was unable to rein in the hysterically laughing Biden, losing a TV-debate he would otherwise have won on conceptual grounds. 


The appointment of Paul Ryan as the new speaker of the house heralds the continuation of the unfortunate course of consequentialist politics most likely pursued by the Republican party. The most alerting reason Ryan was not the right choice derives from the fact that Barack Obama and many in the Democratic caucus welcome his appointment. They believe that Paul Ryan will represent that compliant and accommodating counterpart they are used to from the days of Speaker Boehner. 


But let's hope they are wrong and, if Paul Ryan is elected new speaker, he will remind himself of the real values his party stands for, steer a more proper course, and takes the lessons from his poor debate performance into consideration.

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