I recall Morrison referring to the Alphas as the FBI to the GLC's police. Therefore the Guardians could be classified as the ever-inept conservative government of yesteryear.
And you can bet that if they got succeeded by someone confident - e.g., Ganthet and the Blue Lanterns taking control over the GLC - then there'd be a faction within the GLC continually suspecting the new Guardians of being behind a conspiracy to destroy the Lanterns, or wanting to spread the rings to everyone, or accusing Ganthet of never being born on Oa in the first place...