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The Tea Party is a minority voice in the Republican Party. The leadership of the Republican Party does not represent the Tea Party. This is a collision course as the Leadership and minority group want different goals and can't compromise. And Leadership cannot control the Tea Party representatives and tell them how to vote. Back in The Day, Leadership could either bribe votes by offering money to that representative's district or threaten to withhold money. Those tactics won't work with money dried up. Or Leadership could threaten to take away committee posts from errant Members. That won't do it either now.
Therefore, as much as Boehner thinks he's the Leader of the House, he really isn't. The Tea Party is telling him what the policy is going to be, not the other way around. And this makes the legislative process in a stalemate. The republicans may doggedly compromise, but the Tea Party won't. They're calling the shots. They really shouldn't be recognized as republicans as much as independents.
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