He didn’t listen. He wasn’t doing the things the voters, or even the rank and file legislators, wanted him to do. He went his own way, he was arrogant, and he was leading the party down the path of ruin. Earlier this year it was just 10 to 15 members who wanted to throw him out. But as he failed to turn things around, that opposition grew, and now he’s gone.

[mc_name name=’Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’B000589′ ]’s nightmare scenario? No. This is what actually happened this week in Australia. Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott is out, and Malcolm Turnbull is in to lead the coalition of the right (an assortment of Liberal, National, and Country parties) into the next election.

Full credit to Tony Abbott for refusing to take the path of Australian Labor party leaders who get thrown out: “There will be no leaking, no undermining, no sniping. I want our government and our country to succeed.” One of his issues in running to win the office was that Australia was sick of party leaders throwing each other out all the time. If he tried to follow that path, it would be bad for the party and for the country.

But 6 months ago his own party warned him that he needed to turn things around. Back in March the left was leading in the polls. That did turn around for a while, but Labor is back. The most recent polls are showing a very close race. However the two-party preference vote hasn’t been led by the Coalition since last year. That’s not good, when we can expect a number of Green party poll backers to come home to Labor in the next election.

If only the Republican Party here would stand up and throw out its leaders after a warning, the way they manage to do in Australia. They could. The GOP could have a meeting, vote on whether to keep Boehner, and if he lost, vacate the chair and install a new Speaker.

Malcolm Turnbull isn’t likely to be the perfect Prime Minister. He is notably a Republican: he was once the leader of the Australian Republican Movement, which has its aim to throw off the monarchy that has served Australia well for a long time. This is a position that he shares more with left-wing politicians, than those on the right. That will leave one to wonder how hostile he will be on other issues, including the global warming movement, which Tony Abbott was a reliable opponent of, to Australia’s benefit.

Likewise, as the GOP throws people out, electing new faces, including those we’ve invited to many RedState Gatherings, we don’t get perfect results. What we get are improvement and accountability. But we’ve got to keep contesting and winning primaries, we’ve got to keep holding people accountable. We’ve got to keep fighting the long war if we want to win in the end.