If this is the best we can offer…
It’s obvious at this point that Republicans just simply cannot govern. Four different Republican “leaders” have fall. Count ’em: McCarthy, Scalise, Jordan, and now Emmer…and let’s be honest, the alternatives have no shot because they’re not real alternatives.
At the risk of offending those with sensitives about their greatness, us grifters have to shoulder a huge part of the blame. We constantly fight over the monied opportunity to win. When asking “can we elect” a particular candidate, we hold scant regard for whether or not we should. Then, what ends up happening is YouTube stars who carpetbag to far flung districts win because the other guys suck.
And, think about it. What’s generally the first question that is asked of anyone running for office…
“How much money can you raise?”
But, of course it is. You know the one thing that grifters don’t actually have to do? Win. The scratch spends all the same.
Decades ago someone once said to me over a lunch that you can always have a job in politics. People don’t care about your qualifications. All they care about is how great you make them feel. They want drug dealers, not life coaches – and among the worst of those needy people are candidates with deep pocket books. So long as you can tell them they’ll win, they’ll not hold you responsible if they don’t.
How does this relate to our stalemate in Congress? Easy, you have men and women with tragically warped value propositions that covet authority above all else for the sake of having authority to covet.
Right now, a Republican should have the testicular fortitude to stand up and spell it out plainly – we can’t resolve this impasse without Democrats, so I’m going to make it happen. If thirty of you are sick of this garbage, let’s go get something done. Screw the conference.
However, are any of us grifters going to encourage them to do that as political advisors? No chance in hell. Too much money on the line. Right now, our system is clearly broken. It’s not irreversible, but it will be if people don’t start trading short-term transactional benefits for long-term predictability and stability.
I’ve written numerous times before about how politicians are to blame for their nonsense, and how citizens are to blame just as much. It’s time we grifter folk also shouldered our contribution to the stinking pile of garbage that is our political system.
Trust me when I say this – we smell our own.
