Republicans are becoming less relevent each election cycle, and are a dying breed. The Tea Party is merely a sock puppet of Republican operatives, so they will never hold any power either. So they are declining with a bang, instead of a gasp, but there's nothing to be in terror about.
I have a confession to make. One time I voted for a Republican. Just one time, mostly because his opponent was an obnoxious brassy windbag who talked smack about him and that turned me off. So I voted for him. I repented, and never voted for a Republican ever again, and I voted for 20 years. I never voted for anyone who talked smack about the other candidates, because if their own ideas lack enough merit to outshine the other candidates, they don't need to do that. If they are no better than the other candidates, then they have to resort to knocking them down some to make themselves look better.
One important thing to keep in mind about this government shutdown, the American people voted for these politicians, chuckleheads who call themselves a 'government', and this is the very best the people could come up with.
http://qz.com/133024/americans-are-dumber-than-average-at-math-vocabulary-and-technology/