It is 12/12 in the calendar, so let’s offer some random musings for this Monday morning. In no particular order, here is a rendering of this, that and the other thing.
Many Republicans have now spoken to how poor some of the candidates who were pushed by the former president, especially the football star in Georgia. I agree. As a citizen of this country, what perturbs me is so-called leaders knew they were bad before the election and yet pushed people to vote for them. This does not respond well to the oath of office of elected officials to push a candidate they know is inferior to garner a vote.
In this vein, I must give a shout out to Republican Senator Thom Tillis who last spring told Republicans DO NOT vote for Congressman Madison Cawthorn as he was bad news for the party and our country. He was right and many folks agreed, so Cawthorn lost in the primary. It would have been nice to see more Republicans follow suit and call on the carpet more candidates, especially incumbents who have shown their lack of mettle over the last two or more years.
Continuing in this same spirit, it is good to see the House looking into possible ethics violations for AOC. I am not saying AOC deserves the scrutiny and may be innocent, but what I am saying is when an issue is raised like this, it is important for the powers that be to follow process to govern the concern. It matters not the party. When an incumbent possibly dishonors the position, the governing body needs to treat it with seriousness of purpose. The Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America, Southern Baptist Convention and numerous universities failed to heed this lesson and damaged their credibility.
Back in the late 1980s, Senator John McCain got too close to a funder who did some bad things in the Savings and Loan financial crisis. McCain was censured for his role, but learned his lesson and did better by it going forward running for president as a worthy candidate. Holding people accountable is a must, regardless of party, whether your name is Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, LBJ, JFK or George W. Bush. If they are never held to account, then it gives them impunity to repeat their bad behavior.
For folks who think I should not have included some of the names on this list, I would suggest you Google the Iran-Contra Affair, The Pentagon Papers, Watergate scandal, Monica Lewinsky scandal, George W. Bush (and Tony Blair) and the Iraq invasion, and the numerous transgressions and crimes (alleged and convicted) of the latest former president.
We must hold our leaders accountable. It is important that we are represented well by people who strive to be among our better angels, not our worse demons.