Monday morning you sure look fine…just avoid the lunatic fringe

With another shout out to Fleetwood Mac, let’s start the week with one of their lyrics. If you are a fan, you know the next line is “but Friday I got travelin’ on my mind.” So, until then, we can just look fine.

Speaking of fine, if the former president wants to testify, please, oh please let him. That would be more than fine. When an untruthful person gets on the witness stand, two things happen – perjury risk goes up and changing answers increase. I have shared before, an attorney got the former president to change 30 answers to avoid perjuring himself in one sworn deposition.

Speaking of fine, I keep reading how even MAGA fans are getting tired of the antics of some of the elected “lunatic fringe” in their party. At some point, these folks wear out their welcome even with other more strident folks. I hate using labels, but to me the lunatic fringe represents the negative tail of a statistical distribution. In a normal distribution, the negative tail could be 2 1/2% of the group using two standard deviations.

In the context I am referencing, the Republican Party is not a normal distribution as the former president has pulled more negativity into the mix making his views more mainstream, So, the lunatic fringe is a little larger. Democrats have their fringe as well, but I do not see it as large as the Republican one.

“Lunatic fringe” is also a cool song from Red Rider. Just a few lyrics will reveal how prescient this song is:

“Lunatic fringe
In the twilight’s last gleaming
This is open season
But you won’t get too far

‘Cause you’ve got to blame someone
For your own confusion
We’re on guard this time (on guard this time)
Against your final solution
Oh no.”

So, we must be on guard. Push back on people who are espousing nonsense. We know their names. And, we should also push back on those who believe the BS these folks are espousing. We won’t really be fine until we do.

Another of the better Republicans will be leaving Congress

Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who was first elected in 2004, said that she came to the decision to leave public office “after much prayer and reflection.”

Rep. McMorris Rodgers has long been one of the more reasoned and diligent voices in Congress, especially the current Republican caucus. She often was involved in energy matters as a result of her capabilities and interests.

Sadly, the better voices in the GOP are leaving Congress. Last year Representative Patrick McHenry, who was temporary Speaker chose to not run again. McHenry was temporary Speaker after Kevin McCarthy was voted out and Mike Johnson was voted in after an unfortunate infatuation by too many for Representative Jim Jordan.

McHenry and McMorris Rodgers have far more veracity than any of these three Speakers or Speaker candidates. Yet, they would not stand a chance to become Speaker with some of the very strident voices in the House.

Of course, other courageous truth tellers in the Republican caucus left or lost elections. Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger would fall in this group. To show examples of what is valued by the party by too many are Rep. Matt Gaetz who submitted legislation to exonerate Donald Trump for his role in the seditious insurrection and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who said Joe Biden’s inauguration was an insurrection. Really?

We need serious minded people in Congress. I called McHenry and McMorris Rodgers to thank them for their service. I don’t agree with them on various policies, but applaud their efforts. I also called Gaetz and Taylor Greene and shared my disappointment in their comments. I emphasized the need for a serious minded focus. These last two are not included in the mix.

Some outspoken Congress members hide behind their voting district

As someone who reaches out to the staff of Senators and Congress members, one of the most unnerving tactics is a Congress member with reach shielding feedback from people outside of their voting districts. While all Senators accept national feedback, Congress members use an online zip code filter blocking input from people outside their district. Some even steer phone calls from outside the district to what I would call a repository of calls not needing to be considered.

What frustrates me is more than a few Congress members have a national influence, but can avoid national critics online. And, often these influencers are negative in nature irrespective of party. Given the decline of the Republican Party into an adrift barge of Trump abetted chaos and lying, the majority of the negative influencers are Republican. Yet, there a few Democrats who like their own press as well.

As a 65 year-old independent and former Republican and long-ago Democrat voter, I used to hold members of Congress in high regard. The days of Jack Kemp are long gone. I no longer do so and it is entirely the fault of those elected who chose this path and a gullible local electorate. Due to gerrymandering, more than a few members do not belong in Congress at all representing the interests of Americans, in my view. Too many are more interested in getting on a news sound bite than governing. Too many are what I call barking dogs liking the sound of their voice rather than its lack of veracity.

And, too many are rationalizing the lies, bullying, fraud, and now-alleged, but likely provable seditious actions and election meddling of the former president. What does that say about them that they support this person to return to the White House? As the bravest person by far in the GOP, former Representative Liz Cheney said, she would rather see Democrats win than this lot of Republicans.

I agree with Cheney. I will not vote for any Republican who supports the former president. Full stop. I will likely not vote for any Republicans at all given their party’s stance on climate change action, civil rights restrictions, and stances on women’s rights and gun governance.

The party I belonged to for over twenty years has made this bed. It is time fumigate the bed bugs out of the linen or find a new bedroom or house.

Florida US House Republicans are not too thrilled with Mr. Gaetz

I have shared on several occasions that Kevin McCarthy earned the right to be ousted as US speaker. He also greased the skids back in January making a deal with the unruly Freedom Caucus after a dozen plus failed attempts to be speaker. While historic, this is not a surprise given the nature of the deal makers.

While it was good that he finally sided with the Democrats to keep the government open, largely his untrustworthiness and lack of leadership over time came home to roost. Yet, the Freedom Caucus spokesman who led his demise, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, is no day at the beach either, nor are other key members like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But, don’t take my word for it. Every other Florida Republican in the House voted against Gaetz’ push to remove McCarthy. Here is what they said per an article in Politico called “‘He’s about clicks’: Florida Republicans furious at Gaetz,” by Kimberly Leonard and Mia McCarthy.

“They called Gaetz divisive. Disrespectful. Selfish. No other Florida Republican voted to oust McCarthy. Florida’s GOP delegation see Gaetz as carrying out a personal vendetta, accusing him of an overzealous bid for attention and of trying to position himself to become the state’s future governor.

‘Gaetz has very few friends in the conference,’ Rep. Carlos Gimenez said. ‘Gaetz maybe has a couple of friends in the delegation. But I’m not one of them.’

As a sign of how unpopular Gaetz’ move to unseat McCarthy was, hours before yesterday’s vote, the GOP conference blocked microphones on the Republican side of the chamber, forcing Gaetz to debate from the Democratic side.

But Gaetz was never known as a people-pleaser. The son of a prominent and wealthy former Florida Senate leader, Gaetz made headlines as a young Florida House member when he defended the state’s ‘stand your ground’ law in 2013. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2016 and, among other things, survived a federal sex trafficking probe.“

Gaetz and the Freedom Caucus are a match. The Freedom Caucus has long been a thorn in the side of the Republican Party, preferring to blow things up than govern. Speaker John Boehner often had to work with Democrats to get something done, as herding the Freedom Caucus cats proved frustrating. They also like to grandstand which is ideal for Gaetz who does as well. The Florida Republicans, as noted above, agree.

A melting pot of thoughts

With so many issues bouncing around, I felt I would throw them in a pot and let them simmer on the stove. In no particular order.

– I read about a confidential report where the US leadership is worried about corruption developing in Ukraine, helping Kyiv to root it out where possible. I do not know if that is true, but corruption is the number one global concern in the eyes of a missionary blogger who has served in several countries in Africa. In too many places it is customary to have to grease palms or expect monies to go unaccounted for. Countries and organizations take on the personality of its leader; if he is corrupt, then it will trickle down to others. Autocrats are more obvious with it, but corruption is not foreign to democracies, organizations or corporations. We must guard against it, even here with so much money in politics and business.

– It is apparent Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Matt Gaetz is going to try to unseat Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. He is upset that McCarthy did what John Boehner did several times as Speaker and work with the Democrats to avoid the extremism of, you guessed it, the Freedom Caucus. McCarthy is very far from perfect, but Gaetz would not be a good choice to replace him given his grandstanding tendencies and strident views. McCarthy finally did the right thing to work with the Democrats to get something done.

– I have grown long past weary of political leaders from the right using “wokeness” as a weapon. The user is not meant to define it, just wield it as a hammer to batter someone with. This weekend I read that some Republicans were responding to criticism on failures to address key concerns raised by doctor and scientist groups saying they were “too woke” as their rebuttal. The idea is to get their followers not to pay attention what is being said in opposition using the weapon. Really, that is the best you can do in rebuttal? This is a key reason Florida Governor DeSantis attacked Disney because they are too woke. Disney is only trying to attract and keep customers and employees, but that mission conflicts with DeSantis’ restrictions.

– To be frank, I left the Republican Party around 2008, with one of the reasons being a tendency to make things up. While Democrats are far from perfect and exaggerate as well, lying has become mainstream to be a member of the GOP. Part of it is to respond to a hard core base who have very dubious sources of information (that would include a certain former president known for his untruthful bent), but it is sad the GOP leaders feel the need to support lies than discuss issues of import. The truth tellers get vilified, threatened and/ or run out of office. That does not bode well for the party’s future. We need a good conservative voice in this country, but this vintage of the party is not it.

– Finally, arguably the best ex-president we have ever had, Jimmy Carter, turned age 99 recently. Carter has been an informal ambassador to various countries at the behest of several White Houses and helped eradicate the Guinea worm infestation in a few places. He taught Sunday school for decades, built many Habitat for Humanity houses and has written at least a couple of dozen books. He and his wife Rosalyn keep plugging along. There is a lot to be said for living a good life married to your soul mate who is still around. Now, that is a prayer answered.

Here is yet another reason why Kevin McCarthy should not be Speaker of the House

Per The Guardian this morning:

“A government shutdown appeared all but inevitable as the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, dug in on Thursday, vowing he will not take up Senate legislation designed to keep the federal government fully running despite House Republicans’ struggle to unite around an alternative.

Congress is at an impasse just days before a disruptive federal shutdown that would halt paychecks for many of the federal government’s roughly 2 million employees, as well as 2 million active-duty military troops and reservists, furlough many of those workers and curtail government services.”

As an independent and former Republican voter, there are many reasons why Mr. McCarthy should not be speaker. His failure to do whatever is necessary to not shut down the government reveals a lack of leadership. Full stop. Specific to the Senate bill, he should at least give it a chance.

Yet, let me also reiterate he should not be replaced by anyone within the Freedom Caucus, especially their outspoken figureheads. That would be akin to throwing gasoline on a fire.

Americans deserve better than this lack of governance. Please call your representatives and tell them to get to work to make this happen.