Today's Republican party.
Dear House Republicans:
Let's clear something up.
In 2012 there were three things you wanted to win: 1) the White House, 2) the Senate, and 3) the House. And hey, you won one of them! One out of three ain't bad!
This does not mean that one third of your policy ideas are automatically going to be enacted.
That's just not how it works. Shitty, I know. But true.
Winning enough (gerrymandered) House districts to control the chamber is never going to mean we enact the laws that chamber passes.
Your control of one house of Congress is never going to show up in the history books in the form of tea party-inspired legislation shaping the future course of the nation.
Your policy priorities? They're not going to be followed.
Do you understand?
Put aside whether your ideas are actually good or bad. Put aside the discussion of tactics. Let others debate whether your nihilistic approach hurts the country, or just your party [although SPOILER ALERT: both!]. Put aside the substance. Ignore for the moment whether Obamacare will actually help anyone, or what would be better, or the entire concept of the debt limit or the CR process or any of the rest of it.
And just realize:
Controlling one house of Congress is not going to get your ideas onto the books.
We don't owe you anything. The President doesn't owe you anything. Running the country in divided government doesn't mean you sit in a circle and President Obama suggests gun control and then Harry Reid suggests immigration reform and then John Boehner suggests mandatory vaginal ultrasounds for everyone and then everyone shakes hands and smiles and we enact all of it because Fairness.
Repeal the ACA as many times as you like. You're owed precisely nothing.
I think it's important that you have this epiphany sooner rather than later.
Lately I've been reading a lot of quotes about how the President wants to "have 100% of what he wants," and how this angers you. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but it's actually rare that the President -- in the event that he actually sticks to his guns -- doesn't get 100% of what he wants. He's the President! He can veto anything he likes! This is not new.
You could pass some crazy moronic bill in the House, then bribe Harry Reid or let Snooze Cruz talk for a week straight peeing all over himself or threaten to maim a box of kittens or who knows what and pass it in the Senate too, and you'd still end up with nothing.
[sidenote: having the Senate pass something ridiculously conservative just so the President could gleefully veto it on live TV would make for an amusing publicity stunt, similar to the way the House occasionally puts things up for a vote just so they can fail.]
Anyway, I get that this infuriates you. You think "we control 1/3 of the players in this game, so if everyone just compromises we should get 1/3 of what we want, no matter how batshit insane and unimaginably wrong-headed and poorly thought-out it might happen to be.
But that's wrong.
You know what controlling one House of Congress does get you? It gets you a seat at the table. You get to put your ideas out there. You get to suggest legislation. You get to participate. You get to be a part of the process. You get a bit of visibility to show the American people why your leadership style and policy ideas are right for the nation. [And... you're sort of blowing it. But nevermind; we'll talk more about this after next November.]
Look: when the history books are written, this (brief) period where you controlled one House in our divided government during a tumultuous time is simply not going to feature a series of examples of the innovative conservative policy ideas the nation adopted. There will never be a Times front page photo of President Obama at a desk with a pen in his hand and the caption "Chastened President reluctantly signs repeal of Affordable Care Act; Republicans allow government to reopen." Textbooks from 2050 are not going to feature a chapter called "Tea Party Rollback of Obamacare."
That's not going to happen.
All you're going to have to show for your time in control of this body is a record of obstruction of the agenda of a great President whose agenda was never able to be fully realized because of your shenanigans. The best you can hope for is that your unity prevents good progressive ideas from being enacted. You have no hope of actually enacting conservative ideas from your Magical Wish List of Right-Wing Joy.
All you're going to be able to say is that you slowed down the advance of progressive ideas -- gay rights, environmentalism, energy conservation, healthcare reform, immigration reform, consumer protection, global responsibility, etc. -- that were eventually adopted.
When the history books are written, all your bluster and all your fury and all your screaming be nothing more than a pruny tea-soaked finger in the dam of progress.
I don't know how the current showdown ends. I don't know if Nancy Pelosi's discharge petition finds backers, or Ted Cruz gives permission to run a clean CR up the flagpole, or the Democrats crack and pointlessly succumb to their demons and try to compromise, or what. Maybe you'll really let the nation default and we'll all go down the rabbit hole together and see what a real mess looks like.
But I know this:
Your ideas aren't being implemented.
The sooner you come to this realization yourselves, the better for everyone.