A reason we are here: A child molester's legacy in the House of Representatives

Denny Hastert's official portrait

Denny Hastert's official mugshot

Denny Hastert is worth two footnotes in our nation's history. One, as former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, he is the highest-ranking U.S. politician to serve hard time. (Note: he was convicted of financial crimes stemming from illegal payoffs he made to a man he molested while Hastert was his high school wrestling coach.)

Two, in order to win election to the speakership, he instituted a policy in the Republican caucus that lives on as the "Hastert rule."

In case you slept through AP Government (shame!), one of the primary powers of the speaker is the s/he decides which bills will be voted on by the entire House. The Hastert rule is a "majority of the majority" rule. Only bills supported by a majority of the party in power would be ever be considered by Congress. In practice, this shifts the center of power from Republican and Democratic moderates to extreme factions within a caucus. 

Previous speakers didn't do this because it hamstrings their ability to get mainstream legislation passed. It can also empower congressmen who have little interest in passing anything at all.

This is why the Freedom Caucus -- a group of lawmakers who, in most previous congresses would've been backbenchers because they are far to the right of the House mainstream -- have, instead, considerable sway. 

So if you are wondering why Congress has accomplished nothing on immigration since the George W. Bush administration (not even popular legislative fixes like granting DREAMers a path to citizenship), the Freedom Caucus bears primary responsibility. 

See, the contours of an immigration compromise have been clear for a long time. This was codified by the "Gang of Eight" senators in 2013 when they worked out a deal with these as the main points:

• A path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S.
• Fast-tracking permanent residence for U.S. university graduates with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or math 
• Improvements to the employment verification system 
• Better work visa options for low-skill workers (impacting mostly farm and construction work)
• More funding for border security

This passed with 68 votes in the Senate, but the House never took it up. Why? It would easily passed a majority of the entire House. However, Speaker John Boehner didn't have enough support within the GOP caucus. 

If he would've brought it to the floor, the Freedom Caucus would've tried to remove him as Speaker. (They later did this anyway.)

Why did the Freedom Caucus resist this compromise? Explanations include**:

**Note: I don't agree with any of these and could make arguments against them, but don't want to stray too far from my purpose in attempting to relay what far-right GOP congressmen believe.

• By granting citizenship to anyone who entered the U.S. without permission, this would encourage more people to do the same, since they would believe they'd eventually be granted citizenship as well.
• Building on the above point, citizenship means granting more legal rights. Cross-border gangs and drug cartels could, theoretically, take advantage of this in some way. (Go ask drug lord and American citizen "La Barbie" how this theory works in practice.)
• Granting immigrants citizenship means they can vote. Immigrants are thought to be a demographic likely to vote Democratic. 
• Many migrants speak only Spanish and anti-immigrant types often use first-generation immigrants' failure to master English as a reason to not have them in the country.
• Increased costs for social services
• Many argue that all of the above are a fig leaf for racism against Latinos.

The upshot is that we continue to deal with the fallout from the same broken system. Real lives -- migrants, homeowners on the border, companies and small businesses seeking workers, even border patrol agents -- are hurt because the status quo lives on.

The thing about broken systems, too, is that they are ripe to be exploited by demagogues. 

To be sure, I could list some other factors that led us to this moment. But none have had the legacy of the child-molesting wrestling coach who did lasting damage to the House of Representatives so people could call him "Mr. Speaker."