People In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones
Pretty apt title for what is going on in Washington these days.
For one, it really is amazing that you have barely heard a peep out of any Republican regarding freshman House of Representatives member George Santos. While this may not be getting much press across the country, it is getting plenty here in New York. This guy is despicable and I really could care less what anyone thinks about that. The worst of the worst and when it come to politicians, that is saying something.
On the other side of the aisle, the exact opposite is happening. The Democrats want investigations and hearings and they want this guy tossed. While I agree with them, I do think they are holding back a little because I believe if you peel back the layers on some of these same Democrats, you will see plenty of lies as well. Maybe not to the extent of George Santos but a lie is a lie.
What troubles me is that not one Republican has come out and said anything about this guys actions. His lies and deceits are much, even for an elected official. Why hasn’t any Republican said anything? Is it because the light will then shine on them too? So what. If you have something to hide, you should be exposed. Time to weed out the liars and bring decency back.
Who am I kidding? The Republican party is in enough turmoil what with looking like losers in the Mid-terms and now they can’t even elect a Speaker of the House. They don’t want to throw more fuel on the Democratic fire and I can honestly understand that but still, ditch this guy. He is like a malignant mole that needs to be removed quickly.
Unfortunately, our politicians have installed all sorts of safeguards to prevent the quick removal of any miscreant. It takes a village as Hillary liked to say. It just bugs the crap out of me that our elected leaders in Washington have seemingly endless immunity to things regular citizens have to abide by. I guess it was pretty stupid of our forefathers to put these protections in place in the first place. Who knew that Washington was going to turn into the cesspool it has become. Maybe it was the location that did it, after all, it was built on a swamp.
The whole election of the Speaker of the House has exposed even more problems within the Republican party. While I am no fan of Kevin McCarthy, he is being held back by the far right of his party. The far right (along with the far left) are becoming outcasts more and more. Yet, these 20 Republican Representatives are basically stalling the legislative process. Maybe thats a good thing, I don’t know but eventually, something will give and this will get done.
It pains me to write any of this because in the last four years the Republicans have had a chance to really take control and they have failed on multiple levels. The party leadership is worse than the Democrat party leadership. They have 12 voices shouting at any one time and none of them can listen. If this is not straightened out in the next 12 months or so, we may be looking at Joe Biden again (please God no) or worse, Kamala Harris.
The need for the Republicans to right the ship and become a cohesive political body capable of creating and passing solid legislation is more important now than at anytime since the end of the Nixon Administration.
Should this go on for more than a couple of days, I think the damage it will do to the Republican party may be irreversible for years to come.
While I truly dislike Chuck Schumer, I think he is a perfect example of a leader. He whips his colleagues into shape constantly and I may disagree with practically everything he stands for I can give him credit for being a strong leader of his flock. Looking around, I don’t see one person in the House who I can see being that leader.
As a casual observer of the political process I have been amazed at this groups ability to constantly be at war with each other. Between parties and inside their own party, they fight. They will not compromise to get things done. Either for the Nation or their constituents.
The NY Times has written extensively about “Is Democracy dying?” or however they phrased it. Having read a couple of the articles I got the sense that the authors felt that Democracy was starting to not work and it stemmed from the people. Democrats and Republicans who were once friends, now don’t even speak. The failures are from the bottom up. I think the blame for a rough patch in the Democratic process stems from leadership on down. The people in this country believe in Democracy and seeing 187 million people vote in the last Presidential election proves that. You go out on the street and ask people randomly the simple question,” Do you think Democracy still works?” I will guarantee that at least 80% of the people will say,” yes”. Ask another simple question, “Do you think politicians have this country’s best interests in mind?” and you will see something totally different.
My last thought is a sort of Trump parable. Donald Trump got elected for several reasons. He did not believe that Washington DC worked for the people. He wanted to root out the swamp. Also, he also spoke to the heart of this country. Blue collar, middle America that has felt for years they had no say in how things were run. He spoke to them.
Well, like every swamp, you go in, you clear it out, you put in fill, you build it up, people move in and create a community. However, at the end of the day, the place is a swamp and nature being nature, it will eventually return that place to being a swamp again. Man will fight against it, put in levees, build systems to keep the swamp out but nature will always win. That is what happened in Washington. He tried doing things differently. He eventually succumbed to nature in DC. The swamp refilled itself and things are back to where they were a decade ago.