The worldwide Anglican Communion has been unable to discipline or expel the Americans, and it appears at this point that the Anglican Communion as such will cease to exist on or after September 30 of this year.
As a refugee from that dreadful excuse for a church who should have shaken the dust from my sandals long before the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire, I am sadly familiar with all the details of the controversy. At least now I am watching the train wreck from a safe vantage point across the Tiber, rather than being in one of the passenger cars.
You'll get no argument from me on your final point -- the ECUSA leadership is trying to please the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
As for why the Episcopagans have come up in this discussion, they illustrate just exactly what you can get away with by claiming Holy Spirit-guided Scriptural interpretation when there is no authoritative leadership. Without a final arbiter other than the internal promptings of the Spirit, once a particular interpretation reaches critical mass in a denomination, that denomination is off on a wild ride to wherever.
That’s exactly WHY Christ came into the world: to show us what God’s nature is. The devil can masquerade as an angel of light and, without a solid reference of what is holy, we can be deceived. Christ is our TOUCHSTONE, to enable us to discern evil from Good. With That Touchstone, and the Holy Spirit, anyone can understand God’s Will; we don’t need an earthly authority.
But we must be diligent students of the Master, merely reading the Bible in bits and pieces won't hack it; the world is full of those who quote Christ out of context!
As to the episcopagans (that’s kinda catchy), perhaps excommunicated is the wrong word; encouraged to repent, and unwelcome/disinvited to share in the Anglican community conferences and such. In short, they’re not Anglican anymore.
Peace,