A close examination of Lauren Boebert's background may give some insight into a politician who doesn't seem to have the ability to settle on an identity. From the perspective of a Democrat, it is difficult to avoid the temptation to just write her off as a kook, the product of a deep red congressional district in a blue state where almost 70% of the population lives within a 90 minute drive of the state capital building in Denver. So she can easily be fodder for the mocking of her as an extremist. I'm guilty of doing that kind of writing her off myself.
One of my best friends from high school moved with his family to a farm outside of Grand Junction, Colorado shortly after graduation. We shared a lot in common, Our Dads both worked for the same government contractor, were both union advocates and members, and were both working class Democrats. In our high school civics class, we worked together on a project assigned by the teacher, requiring us to define our politics in terms of the two major parties, and support our definition. He's been a business franchise owner for more than three decades now, and of course, as a resident of Boebert's district, has a much better position for perspective on her than I do.
Single Issue Politics
Though Boebert claims to be an Evangelical Christian, an experience she says occurred in 2009, there are not a lot of Evangelicals in her district. The highest percentage of Evangelical voters in Colorado are found in District 5, around Colorado Springs, which is the headquarters of several large ministries with national membership and scope. My high school friend, who attends an Evangelical church by the way, says that the key to Boebert's support is the fear of government interference in gun ownership. The conspiracy theories flow like water out of the mountain glaciers in the rural areas of this part of the state, fed by money from gun lobbyists and manufacturers. In the local daily newspaper, still a big deliverer of news around Grand Junction, and on local radio and television, perceived threats against gun owners are exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. But who checks facts?
Everything about Boebert focused on this issue, down to her ownership of a restaurant called "Shooter's Grill" in the town of Rifle, a few miles from where she lives. When she's campaigning behind the microphone in a small, Evangelical church, she's giving her incorrect interpretation of the first amendment's guarantee of religious liberty and separation of church and state. She's been a loud opponent of Roe v. Wade, a position that, according to most pundits, 55% of the people in her district don't share with her. But most of her campaign focused on the non-existent, nationwide conspiracy to grab everyone's guns.
Through the lens of someone else's perspective, that of my high school friend, there are some things about her that aren't issues for a lot of the people in the area. The culture being what it is, her lack of education, and her having obtained a GED only recently, isn't really a negative. There are a lot of high school dropouts in western Colorado. My friend owns four hotel franchises and three fast food franchises and with the exception of his management personnel, few of his employees have a college degree, and almost half don't have a high school diploma. So someone with a GED, who poses for most photo ops with high powered rifles, who spreads the gun restriction conspiracy theories, sounds like a big chunk of the people who live in the small towns and rural enclaves of her district.
Inconsistent and Erratic Behavior is a Factor
What has cut into her support, again according to my friend's perspective, is her erratic, inconsistent and often rude and aggressive behavior. They see a lot more of this from her than we do. Courtesy, respect and manners are community expectations. This is a place where neighbors help neighbors without regard for their religious or political affiliation and in most cases, without regard for their ethnicity or racial background. Many people, even some of her conservative supporters, have been embarassed by the profile and image of herself that she has created.
There is also some doubt about whether the public image that is being shown is actually the real Lauren Boebert, or whether, because she was inexperienced in politics, once she won her seat in Congress, Republican party insiders convinced her to do some playacting and create the image of a loud mouthed, Trumpie supporter who waves her fist and points her finger like he does, even using many of his limited expressions. It comes off as fake, and it's more for the benefit of the Republican establishment, rather than her. The fact that the rest of the country sees her as representing all people who live in rural, western Colorado has been an embarassment to the people who live there, including some of her own supporters and fellow Republicans.
And from my own perspective, the lack of consistency she has recently displayed regarding her Evangelical faith also has to be troublesome to at least some of her supporters in that constituency in her district. The casual manner in which she handled the news that her teenage son had impregnated his younger girlfriend was way outside the rhetoric she had previously used, on the record, when it came to Roe v. Wade and abortion. Those women who get pregnant out of wedlock were, in her opinion, degenerate sinners, criminals and victims of "liberal politics." And while the manner in which she handled it should be a private matter between her, her son and his girlfriend, passing over it by saying she wasn't going to get "biblical" and well, at least they were keeping it, made it a very inappropriate political issue.
Likewise, her separation and divorce from her husband, is also well outside the bounds of the kind of example Christians who are public figures and leaders are expected to set. Trump and his sons have made a mockery of marriage vows, torrmenting and publicly humiliating the women to whom they once spoke commitment vows. Jesus himself is the main source for Christian doctrine regarding the sanctity of marriage, a deliberate reversal of the practice of polygamy, and declaring the old law permitting divorce among the Israelites the product of hard-heartedness, equating the remarriage of one divorced without cause with the commandment about adultery.
And that's the backdrop for the latest photographs of Boebert, from a live theater production in Denver, making out with her date as if no one else is in the room, casually vaping and not really being very careful about what's being seen. Clearly, on the Republican side of the aisle, the moral and ethical standards of behavior for members of Congress have deteriorated down to nothing since Trump set the example for the party and they went ahead and nominated him anyway. It's quite an assumption that such a public display won't matter to her supporters. The closeness of her re-election bid is a clear indication that if this offended even a small fraction of those who voted for her, it will make the difference in the next election. But it doesn't appear that this is going over well at all, and if the apology now was kind of weak, I think the regrets on November 6th will be very powerful.
Character Speaks
How does one go from spouting hard core Evangelical faith blended with extremist right wing politics to making out in a public theater with a date, on camera?
Well, there are plenty of examples of people who built a career around their Evangelical identity, preaching on television, holding crusades, building huge churches and revelling in the fame who let temptation get the better of them, insulated by fantastic prosperity inside their earthly mansion built with the dollars of trusted followers. I often wonder, without ever really knowing, whether the prosperity was the trigger, or whether their image was a carefully constructed means of gathering fame and fortune they couldn't get any other way, and once they arrived, their true character came out.
This most recent faux paus makes me wonder if the Lauren Boebert who initially got elected to Congress on a gun rights platform as a conservative Evangelical was an image created for her, by Trump campaign interests, to get elected. Now that she's been there for a while, she's having trouble covering up her true identity and she's grown weary of keeping up appearances. Both political parties recruit candidates to run for office, and a lot of that is based on the image they think they can project. It's hard to keep true character bottled up and out of sight all the time.
Or are we seeing Lauren Boebert in the process of being corrupted by her success within the extremist right wing, the pressure of politics and the association with some of the most incredibly immoral, machiavellian, corrupt politicians we've seen in our long history wearing her down and causing a public performance far worse than any drag queen entertainment.
Acknowledging her apology, considering it sincere, and extending her the benefit of the doubt in forgiveness still does not require one to vote for her or consider her qualified or fit for office.
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