Let me preface this tirade with the admission that I am no fan of bipartisanship. I agree with Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) on the notion that nothing of any great value has come out of it in recent decades; in fact, quite the opposite. The Iraq War, the USA Patriot Act, etc. If that’s how sausage is made, we should consider eating something other than sausage.

That said, we are faced with some fundamental problems with respect to our rapidly eroding ability to govern ourselves at the national level. A handful of tea party House members, maybe 40, from heavily gerrymandered districts have become the tail that wags the Congressional dog, in essence. They have every incentive to continue and even enhance their extremism, as that is the only way they can please their hard-right constituencies back home. Around that core is another probably 40-50 House republicans terrified of being challenged by tea party types in the next round of primaries. Boehner needs these folks to maintain his speakership, so he goes along as do most of what remains of the GOP caucus. Hence, a list of demands is attached to a 60-day continuing resolution – not even a budget – with the same treatment threatened for the debt ceiling vote in a couple of weeks.

What’s to be done to keep us from toppling over a more dramatic precipice than the one we encountered in 2008? I think it’s time for a coalition government in the House. Get a majority of Republicans and Democrats to support a centrist or even a center-right candidate for Speaker, one who will agree to advance the following objectives: (1) keep the government open and funded at whatever level; (2) raise the debt ceiling well in advance of each deadline; (3) negotiate on a budget deal to cover more than six months to a year (i.e. plan ahead).

This would not be a progressive coalition by any means. But given the current make-up of the House, it’s hard to see how else we can keep the lights on and prevent the collapse of our financial system. We need to put the tea party minority in a box; to wall them off from the levers of power. If we don’t, the current crisis will continue and will be repeated again and again. And given the fact that the best we can hope for in the CR debate is the continuation of sequestration-level funding of federal programs, a centrist coalition hardly seems like a worse outcome.

Though I’m not happy about it, I think this is the way out of this mess. Let me know what you think.

luv u,

jp