I predict the pressure on Boehner to step down from his House leadership position may cause him to resign. However, the pressure in Wash DC will be to replace him with someone who can squash the Tea Party voices. I imagine P King is dreaming about this right now. Unfortunately, that ensures the House (1) has no strategy for growing the party and winning elections and (2) further alienates the base voters. It would be taking a modest defeat and turning it into a rout. The key here is the lack of a strategy.
The R party is convinced that demographics are the same as political influence—that has appeared to be true in the past three decades but I contend that it is a misleading relationship as is the urban/rural distinction. There is a more fundamental factor that must be the focus of new political strategy. The Dem party has identified it as greed and uses its impressive propaganda machine to legitimize greed by demonizing members of opposing groups. This is especially easy to do to the Tea Party because it holds no seats and has no official status. The Dems have also done it to the R party because the R party has no propaganda system. What little media they have is a skeptical talk radio system.
Prior to the 1970s, that demographic relationship with left/right voting did not exist in the same way it does now. The more important variables include prosperity, social affiliation, sense of personal intelligence, and possibly others. Voting is an individual act as is donating. If voters believe they and the people they care about prosper more under your leadership, are on the winning team and have more social support if they support you, and are the more intelligent voter because they support you, then you have a powerful advantage in politics.
The R party strategy at this time is to shrink their voter numbers for national elections and pit state leaders against other state leaders. That is unmanageable and works, at best, at the state and lower levels. It is not viable in national elections.
I analyze and design strategies as a good part of my work. There is much more to this but I offer these ideas for scrutiny and improvement.
“Prior to the 1970s, that demographic relationship with left/right voting did not exist in the same way it does now.”
The left/right paradigm is really a false paradigm created by the authoritarian establishment that favors big centralized government. The authoritarians want total control, and the best way to accomplish this goal is to artificially divide the electorate along racial, income, religious and cultural lines. As far as political parties are concerned, the Democrats and entirely complicit and the Republicans are mostly complicit save a few brave souls in the House and Senators such as Rand Paul, Cruz, and Lee.
The Federal government IS the enemy of the people; it’s the greatest threat our nation has faced since the first civil war. Of course we need to support those individuals at the Federal level that share our view of limited government. But as for the rest of them, no support or allegiance will be rendered under the principle of supporting the lesser evil.
I think that the answer must come at the state level through all possible resistance- nullification efforts, through what remains of the Constitution via article V, through individual and collective civil disobedience, and by employing creative efforts to frustrate Federal activity.