"The Freedom Caucus Is a Minor Third Party and Should Be Treated That Way"

"As I've explained several times, the Republicans who refuse to stop demanding government shutdowns and debt ceiling brinksmanship are not best understood as wayward lawmakers who won't accept any leadership. They are best understood in the parliamentary sense as being a party in their own right. In our system, they are still called Republicans, but in any other system they would be a minor party that has allied itself with another larger party to form a majority. They would be given some kind of token power like control over a minor ministry, which in our system of divided government would translate to either low-level congressional leadership positions or the chairmanship of low-priority committees."

Martin Longman at Washington Monthly calls for a coalition of Democrats and sane Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Additionally, Tierney Sneed at Talking Points Memo talks with Norman Ornstein about the "dysfunction of the Republican Party," David Brooks in The New York Times denounces the "Incompetence Caucus," and William Greider in The Nation argues we are seeing the end of Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy."