The world is a strange place, and often times we see some of the strangest things getting worshipped as gods that bestow their graces upon their idolators. The Left is prone to this – having moved into a secularist worldview, they give up God and turn toward things of the world. They worship the environment, government, and leaders who espouse their views like Barack Obama. However, we see people on the Right turning in the last several years to a new idol. It is one to which they are slavishly devoted, and one they see as above all else.

The Church of Public Opinion.

The Opinion Poll is all. It is everything. Major, life and national altering decisions are made before it, with little regard to how they might affect others. Most recently, the Republican Leadership has sacrificed their integrity before it in order to avoid a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

The DHS was an agency that was first conceived in early 2001. In response to the September 11 attacks, its creations was rushed – it was another level of bureaucracy added to the layers of bureaucratic law enforcement that could not work together to prevent a situation of that caliber from happening. The DHS, which saw dozens of agencies tied into its umbrella structure, has since done some incredible things – it restructured the Transportation Security Administration into the ineffective behemoth it has become today, taken control of immigration enforcement (which, like the TSA, has under Obama done its job as effectively as anything else this administration has done), and saw the creation of FEMA.

Such a stellar record can make one wonder why we need this department at all. Sure, I get the idea that defending the homeland has its merits, but I fail to see why a new level of bureaucracy was necessary to do so, when a simpler solution would have been to consolidate existing layers into a more manageable (and less competitive) set of law enforcement and nation protective agencies.

Most importantly, though, we have seen this administration take agencies like those within the DHS and used them as weapons of liberal ideological enforcement. The president’s executive amnesty is the most recent attempt at this, and one that was an easy fight to have. Even CNN referred to the Congressional battle as one in which the Democrats were blocking. But the Republicans, scared of their god, Public Opinion, chose to step away from the fight and hand their opponents a clean win. Now, with the House leadership so repudiated, as my colleague streiff has pointed yesterday, the Republican leadership will be forced to deal with the word they feared – shutdown.

It is somewhat ironic that, when the Democrats were blocking action, the media outright said they were doing so. The Republican leadership, in choosing to fear their idol, took that public relations win away from their own party and, with the House conservatives breaking rank, now blame can (and more than likely will) be placed on Republicans, a problem that could have been avoided had they simply had the courage to stand on their own and fight for the very things they were given control of the House and the Senate to do.

[mc_name name=’Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’B000589′ ] and [mc_name name=’Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000355′ ] worship polling and public opinion far more than they value doing what they were put in charge to do. They now face, more than ever, challenge to their leadership because members of their caucus are more and more seeing them for the cowards they are rather than the leaders they undoubtedly want to be seen as. The GOP is in need of men of courage within the GOP leadership, and should actively be looking for such.