The job of Speaker of the House is what one makes of it. Witness the career of Newt Gingrich who created a Republican majority in the House and then, as speaker, became nearly as powerful as the president of the United States for a period of time. Look at the power Chucky Schumer is exercising from a minority position in the Senate, imagine a man of his talents as Speaker of the House in Ryan's place and imagine how he would move his agenda.
The problem is both systemic and personal.
Too many conservatives thought that if they elected a man Photoshopped in a Superman costume astride the globe, he would come in and "drain the swamp" which is Trumpspeak for reforming the system. They succumbed to a weakness in human nature which is to whore after a charismatic personality, a man on horseback, a Napoleon believing he can do no wrong as he does good.
These are often the very same conservatives who shrink in horror at the idea of reforming the system by resorting to the provisions of the Constitution which provide for reforming the Constitution, Article V. Instead they have substituted cultlike adoration for a man when our founding fathers knew, as much as they respected George Washington the man for his character, that the system must guard against the venality of human nature. They understood that you need good people in a system designed to protect itself against the evil men inevitably do.
Yes, our swamp needs draining, which means our Constitution needs to be restored to its original intent. That can only be done through Article V. Yes, our representative democracy, our constitutional system, can endure only if we are a moral and principled people. This is a two-pronged equation but neither prong calls for a Marvel superhero in a Photoshop costume. We damn Paul Ryan for the very same thing that Donald Trump is doing but Paul Ryan is following his agenda while Donald Trump is abandoning his. I do not defend Paul Ryan, he has to go, clearly. But I will not deceive myself and let Paul Ryan be substituted as a scapegoat for the failings of the man on horseback.
