People are losing their jobs and homes and the GOP gropes for a political strategy for the next election. How long can House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner keep it up? His idea of a thoughtful response is to dip into the Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover playbooks and do nothing. His frosty, aloof scheme is to wait for something to go wrong as the Democrat's try to stabilize the economy, and then wag a finger.

House Republicans offer nothing of substance in the way of options, only knee-jerk criticism a proposed tax cut is too small. In a calculated snit they all chose to vote against the stimulus package, including $20 billion to expand the food stamp program. The mindlessness of the situation is not the idea of Republican opposition, but the myopic and selfish instinct to do so as a partisan bloc for political gain. No alternatives, no independence. No clue.

The Republican Party wants to get back to basics; the party of small government. Party leaders actually say that stuff. Here is another view: Failure to be an active, constructive force in muting the nation's economic pain and helping the economy right itself could really take Republicans back to basics. Back into the political wilderness for decades.