The Republican Share of the Blame

Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany) on 22 October 2015
by Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Thomas Johnson. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
The Republicans, especially an aggressive, conservative libertarian group within the party, carry the blame for the fact that the American political system doesn't work anymore.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the constitutional significance of the speaker of the House is telling. The office holder is second in the nation's presidential line of succession, after the vice president. There have been speakers who could exact political leverage equal to that of the president.

Republicans, and more specifically an aggressive, conservative libertarian group within the party, are now using the position of speaker to ride roughshod over the greater majority, much like in the Senate. Their arrogant, ideological stubbornness just brought the former speaker to his knees, and following his resignation, has scared off the presumed replacement as well.

Now, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee wants a momentous reject to be put up for election to the position — former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan — but only if the party truly stands behind him. That could be good were it to fly in the face of the disastrous "culture of compromise," but that seems near impossible to imagine. Republicans are an accessory to the structural failure of American politics.


Die republikanische Mitschuld

Die Republikaner, besonders eine aggressiv libertär-konservative Gruppe in der Fraktion, tragen eine Mitschuld daran, dass die amerikanische Politik nicht mehr funktioniert.

Nach der amerikanischen Verfassung ist die staatsrechtliche Bedeutung des „Sprechers“ des Repräsentantenhauses herausragend: Der Amtsinhaber rangiert an dritter Stelle im Staate, nach dem Präsidenten und dem Vizepräsidenten. Es gab Sprecher, die es machtpolitisch allemal mit dem Präsidenten aufnehmen konnten.

Mit diesem Amt nun treiben die Republikaner, die, wie im Senat, die Mehrheit auch in der größeren Kongresskammer stellen, Schindluder; genauer gesagt, das tut eine aggressiv libertär-konservative Gruppe in der Fraktion. Deren anmaßende ideologische Sturheit hat erst den früheren „Speaker“ zur Verzweiflung gebracht und dann, nach dessen Rücktritt, den mutmaßlichen Nachfolger abgeschreckt.

Jetzt will der Vorsitzende eines wichtigen Ausschusses, der frühere Vizepräsidentschaftskandidat Paul Ryan, sich zur Wahl stellen - aber nur, wenn die Fraktion wirklich hinter ihm stehe. Das wäre gut, man kann es sich angesichts der so desaströsen „Kultur der Kompromisslosigkeit“ aber fast nicht mehr vorstellen. An der Dysfunktionalität amerikanischer Politik sind die Republikaner mitschuldig.
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