A Major Washington Figure Steps Down

Your frazzled Peasant is grabbing some precious time
to return to comment on an seismic event which took
place just yesterday, causing reverberations throughout
the country's political scene. House Speaker Paul Ryan
announced his resignation from both his position and his
seat in the House of Representatives, effective in January
2019. Ryan will not seek re-election, opting to call and end
to a long and successful political career which began when
he was in his twenties.

During his time as Speaker, Ryan conducted himself honorably
but seemed to have some trouble grasping some of the necessary
functions of the office of the third most powerful government
official in the land. First, he was never temperamentally suited
for the job. And he didn't even want it. Ryan had to be persuaded
into accepting the position when his predecessor, John Boehner,
resigned after a disastrous performance fomented dissent in
the Republican ranks in the House. The most successful speakers
have been master salesmen (and manipulators), or have had
dynamic, charismatic personalities, or were hard-nosed enpough
to bully their agendas through their chamber. Ryan had none of
this; he simply brought a love for the law and a desire to serve
the people of his Janesville, Wisconsin district and the American
people as a whole to his jobs as a U.S. representative and House
Speaker.

Ryan was also not able to keep a wave of pork and waste out of
the recently passed Omnibus Budget Bill, and voted for its
passage in order to ensure that some better provisions would
go through, namely seeing to it that the military would get the
funding for the wherewithal to do its job in Afghanistan, where
we are still at war, as well as to train and equip  new recruits.
this did not please the GOP base; in fact, they called him a RINO
and wanted him removed from the Speaker's post. Moreover,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell led his caucus to vote
against measures that Ryan and his caucus passed which would
have reduced both spending and the deficit. Ryan's forte was
being a detail man, a policy wonk; he is not a gut-fighter who
would battle for every policy, every idea, every dollar to save,
spend, or redirect with people on both sides of the aisle ---
and sometimes his counterpart in the Senate and even the
president himself.

Finally, Ryan wants to spend more time with his family. He had
commented that he gets to see them only on weekends, and he
doesn't want his children to think of and remember him as hust
someone who was there only on weekends and the rest of the
time see their dad on TV and that's all. A decent and caring
family man, as well as a fine public servant, who is losing the
balance he wanted so much to maintain between his duty to
his family and that to his constituents. Never an easy thing to
do for anyone in government, especially Congress.

A few gremlins in his speakership, to be sure. But Paul Ryan
was always loyal to the people who entrusted him with the
House seat they elected and re-elected him to. A misunderstood,
hard-working, dedicated member of Congress, and a devoted
husband and father. At the end of the day, these are the things
that most count. Thank you, Rep. Paul Ryan, for your service,
and God bless you and your future endeavors.


MEM