The last few weeks I’ve explored ways in which liberals have worked to undermine conservatives in the American political scene. This week, let’s look at one typical instance of so-called conservatives shooting themselves in the foot.

Examples of this abound, and you will forgive me if I don’t make a laundry list of all the ways in which Republicans are played for suckers by Democrats. That would be too painful. Instead, let’s just look at the virtual surrender of traditional values expressed by Speaker of the House John Boehner last week while campaigning in his home district in Ohio.

The headline in the Cincinnati Enquirer said it all: “Boehner mocks GOP colleagues on immigration reform.”

Say what? Why would the titular leader of the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., make fun of his own party and his own caucus on an issue of huge importance to the future of the country?

Could it be that he has no moral compass? That he, in fact, has no deep understanding of the damage that illegal immigration has done and is doing to this country? That like Jeb Bush, another ersatz Republican, he thinks illegally crossing the border is “not a felony” but “an act of love”? Or that like Vice President Biden he thinks illegal immigrants are “already American citizens.”

Well, yeah, it might very well be true that Speaker Boehner is just a political hack, but why exactly do principled Republicans put up with him? Anyone who can explain that — and undo it — may very well have the power to save this country from itself.

But in the meantime we have to put up with Boehner playing up to the liberal cause by suggesting that his fellow Republicans are bad people because they insist on enforcing the law of the land on immigration — and are unwilling to grant citizenship to those who have shown disdain for our laws and our customs

Listen to what Boehner had to say, in a whining voice, to the Middletown Rotary Club on Thursday about the Republicans he leads in Congress:

"Here's the attitude. ‘Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard.’ ... We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it's remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don't want to... They'll take the path of least resistance."

Hey, John, guess what? Saying no to lawlessness IS making a choice. It is a lot harder choice than giving in to the oh so pathetic argument that big strong America is helpless to do anything to make illegal immigrants leave our country.

Elected to solve problems? How many times have you heard good honest Republicans say, “Let’s build a fence to protect our border,” just to be mocked by people like the speaker of the House? We can’t possibly build a fence that long and that tall, they say, in their best whiny John Boehner voice. Heck, maybe that’s why no one has built that Keystone pipeline yet, too — how could we possibly build that big huge oil pipeline all the way from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico? Look at the map! It’s soooo far!

Yeah, this isn’t your grandfather’s America, anymore. People from that generation, or maybe from your great-grandfather’s generation if you are under 30, didn’t put up with that kind of nonsense. Back in those days, it was a different country. They figured out what needed to be done, they figured out how to do it, and then they did it. End of story.

No need for 10, 20, 30 years of hand-wringing and self-doubt. And no need for “leaders” like John Boehner, who think their job is to work out deals to protect lawbreakers.

Sorry, John. It’s not too hard; it’s just plain wrong.