There's No Better Time Than the Present to Pay Attention to the GOP's Loud and Clear Message

"We can't govern!"  

Three unprecedented weeks without a speaker of the house has sent a loud and clear message about the Republican party's respect, or lack thereof, for the Constitution and for the representative democracy that it created, a government of, by and for the people.  The Republicans, collectively, are none of those things.  

The irony of this whole situation is that the chaos is so incredible, the GOP is frittering away its entire agenda that was on the table when they got control of the House after the midterm elections.  It's not much control, since the red wave they were predicting, and the polls were supporting, never materialized.  Beyond that, all of the investigating into "weaponizing" the DOJ, Hunter Biden and the whole impeachment farce, is sitting there, going nowhere, unable to advance because, well, because the GOP can't get a speaker.  

By now, most Americans with a reasonable amount of intelligence, combined with observation and discernment, know what this means.  And I hope they have enough discernment to avoid casting a ballot for anyone who would even remotely support this confusion and idiocy.  But the longer it goes on, the less likely it is that the voters will let the GOP have the reins of power for much longer.  In the circles where I travel, there are some died in the wool, staunch conservative Republicans who are increasingly turned off by all of this.  And believe it or not, they're turned off by the Trumpies, too.  I just don't think the combination of a failed presidency and now a failed Congress, will be a winning one come November 2024.  In fact, I think we are looking at what is shaping up to be the biggest landslide, in the current political context, that we've seen for a while. 

Political Divisiveness has Come to This 

The ridiculous winner-take-all, no compromising with the Libs polarization that is ruining American democracy and which was introduced through the no-nothing ignorance of Rush Limbaugh and those of his ilk is counterproductive to the democratic experiment introduced to the world by the likes of men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington.  What we now have are Republicans at the opposite end of the patriotic spectrum, haters of Democracy because they have difficulty winning elections that aren't fixed in their favor and because it allows everyone, including people of other racial, ethnic, religious, social and economic backgrounds, full guaranteed individual rights.  

It produced a candidacy and a presidency under Trump, who had absolutely nothing to offer and who subverts patriotism and loyalty to country with loyalty to himself.  More recently, as his election defeat in 2020 produces increased insanity on his part, it has produced more chaos on the part of those who remain loyal to him and more hiding from the real world in conspiracy theories and fantasy scenarios.  Denial notwithstanding, his unpopularity was partly responsible for the Republicans not coming anywhere near the kind of majority in the House they were expecting, and not getting control of the Senate back in a mid-term that was, traditionally and historically, a loss for the party in power in the White House.  The string of special elections Democrats have won since then, impressive and unprecedented, and in some cases, such as in Wisconsin, of landslide proportions, is an indication of what is coming in 2024.  

In the one branch of Congress where Republicans did manage to eke out, in the narrowest of ways, a slim majority, the outcome has been predictable, and it's now heading toward being disastrous for them.  They cannot agree on who will be the Speaker of the House.  This position, second in line for the Presidency and next to the White House, one of the most influential in government, is being used by Republicans to play political games.  

Voters seem to be taking most of this at face value, which is a really good thing for the future of American democracy.  

What Does it Take?  

There's a segment of the population in this country that lacks the discernment and the education to make wise political decisions.  They are easy prey for fraud, they can be made victims of scams and they buy into ridiculous conspiracy theories.  When you have people becoming furious at pizza parlor owners because they won't show them the way to the non-existent basement, that puts them in a category of their own with regard to common sense, intelligence and discernment, as well as education.  

The looks on the faces of Trumpies when they are talking about politics and the content of their words says it all.  These people really are insane.  There's no other explanation for believing in things that do not exist.  

But they are nowhere near a large enough group to affect a Presidential election.  And while there is an additional segment of the American public that doesn't understand how its government works, and many who couldn't care less, our democracy rests on those who are educated, informed, reasonable and sane.  And those who are not yet convinced that voting for Republicans will be detrimental to their freedom need to be convinced of that now.  

We do not have a speaker of the house, because the Republican party is incapable of governing, and should not be in charge of Congress, the Presidency, or of any aspect of our government.  This is that moment, that turning point, when, regardless of anything else that may be going on, voters need to realize this inability to govern rises to the very top of the list when it comes to casting their votes.  Those votes should not support Republicans.  And we must do our best to convince as many people as we can that this is that point in history where we will no longer tolerate this ignorance and stupidity.  

The eight members of Congress who initiated the dumping of Kevin McCarthy may have done us a favor by ridding the House of a weak, conciliatory, duplicitous incompetent. They have also pointed out their lack of interest in serving as they do, and even though most of them are in districts that are so heavily gerrymandered, it may not be possible for voters to oust them, they are helping us convince many other people to oust other Republicans.  

We have seen that this can be done.  Jessica Piper, an unsuccessful candidate for a state legislative seat in Missouri, is working in her state to make sure there are Democratic candidates for every seat, causing Republicans to spend money and, in some cases, picking up seats.  Leaving Republicans unopposed is no longer an option.  What happens in places like rural Missouri is that Democrats get a feeling that their votes don't matter, and they don't participate, especially if they don't have a candidate from their party.  Piper has picked up on success of other Democrats in states where seats have been gained when the slate of candidates on the left is full.  More Democrats turn out.  That's never a bad thing. 

Piper knew when she ran that she would likely lose, but she made her opponent spend money to win the seat, money that would have gone to help other candidates in contested races, and she increased the Democratic party vote total state wide with the almost 4,000 people who cast ballots for her, most of whom would otherwise not have voted at all.  Look at how close this Congress is at the moment.  What a difference it could have made, if every state legislative office across the country had been responsible for getting 3,000 more Democrats out to vote than would have done so otherwise?  

I'm encouraged by the awakening I'm seeing among Democrats, who know what is at stake and seem to have the energy and desire to make a difference.  There will be all kinds of attempts to divide, suppress turnout and divide the party off on side issues.  We need to keep the focus on preventing a party that isn't interested in governing from being able to do so.