The Horrible, No-Good, Execrable, Corrupt, and Unprincipled Republican Party
The GOP Cannot Get Out of Its Own Way
I joined the Republican Party when I registered to vote in 1983 and was proud of it until May of 2016 when I registered in Maryland as “Unaffiliated”. The use of that word to describe “no party choice” was new to me, but it was perfect to describe my state of mind at the time. I did not wish to be affiliated in any way, shape, or form with a political party that had as its standard bearer someone like Donald Trump. Nearly six years later, my feelings remain the same. While my political ideology is generally closer to the GOP than the Democratic Party (with which I am also unable to affiliate), I cannot possibly imagine joining, funding, and supporting a political organization as morally bankrupt as the GOP.
It should be no surprise for anyone discerning enough to read this essay that the GOP censured Reps Cheyney and Kinzinger over the weekend, essentially kicking them out of the Party for their participation in the ongoing Congressional inquiry into the January 6, 2021 failed insurrection.
Some of the few remaining honorable and admirable members of the national GOP reacted appropriately to the Party’s terrible decision. Here’s Mitt Romney, all-star (and uncle of National GOP Chairman Ronna “Romney” McDaniel, a woman so far up Trump’s ass that she stopped using her maiden name, which had apparently become inconvenient in the Trump-cult GOP):
Next, some thoughts from America’s Governor, Larry Hogan:
And finally, there’s this view from former NJ Governor Christie, a man I have little time for and who is sort-of-a Junior Varsity Trump, but who seems to have his head on straight.
These men represent the GOP that I gave money to and supported. They represent a party whose general mien was so close to my own political philosophy that I was able for years to confidently move down the list on voting day, checking boxes next to Republican candidates.
The Party that threw out Cheyney and Kinzinger this weekend is a personality cult enthralled to the fading influence of the most damaging political figure of our time, a man who hasn’t a conservative bone in his body, and someone who would destroy the GOP if it meant one more day in the sun for himself. More to the point, it appears this is exactly what he is doing.
But—and this is a big but—let’s assume for the sake of argument that the GOP has a point. It is an organization dedicated to getting Republicans elected, and it has every right to police/discipline its membership when individuals get out of line. Kinzinger and Cheyney have put themselves beyond Party protection, and so they need to be exiled. If I squint really, really, hard, I understand this argument, and I even appreciate it a little.
The problem with all that squinting though, is that it blocks out some pretty relevant facts. Yes. The GOP has a right to decide who is in and who is out. I get it. But what does being “in” mean? Let’s assume for a minute that NO Republicans had been willing to serve on the January 6th Committee, and that it was not only “Democrat-led”, but entirely composed of Democrats. The GOP (in the statement of censure") referred to those arrested and currently in the criminal justice system as “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”.
Simply breathtaking. What occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was not anything even closely related to “legitimate political discourse”, once elements of the crowd broke into the Capitol, bent on disrupting a Constitutionally -mandated process that their Cheetoh Jesus had told them could be stopped if only the Vice President exercised his (unconstitutional) power. No. This was an attack on the Constitution itself, and that a once great political party cannot see this is an embarrassment to anyone who once supported it. Those who still do are apparently beyond shame.
On the Writing of Letters
Loyal readers are aware of my current program of self-improvement through digital minimalism (yes, yes, I know this is posted on the internet. It is minimalism, not a boycott) and attempting to be more present in the moment and in the lives of the people around me. As we’ve discussed here, the substitution of texts, tweets, emails and Facebook posts for more meaningful interaction is one of the great losses in our modern life. So too is the loss of letter writing.
I was in the Navy for a good bit of time before the internet hit, back when writing letters was the way we communicated with people around the world. I took great pride in the crafting of letters home to family and friends, and the time in between helicopters that could take the mail away (and bring letters to us!) created space for reflection and depth that the tyranny of immediacy solicited by electronic communications promotes. I mean, when is the last time you created a draft email that you put aside and came back to?
By the time I’d left the Navy in 2008, letter writing had largely been replaced by email, and I (along with the rest of western civilization) began the slow diminishing of attention span necessary for letter writing (or reading, or any other function that takes deep thought and focus). I have made stabs at correcting this, one of which was the creation of the predecessor blog to this Substack. Crucial though, to the success of any campaign of this sort is placing greater value on the interaction itself, and recognizing the cheap, illegitimate nature of these one way chirps we now consider to be communication.
Over the weekend, I came across this tweet:
Here is the letter cited, blown up for easier reading:
So much beauty, elegance, simplicity, and humanity. Here is a man who had stood at the pinnacle of world power, writing a short (but perfect) letter to a man who he had admired, been a subordinate to, who had promoted his career, and who had shared his fate in having been voted out of the Presidency.
These words hit me the hardest:
“But I just got to thinking, after our time together on Bob’s plane and in the car and at the rallies, that I have never told you that I treasure my friendship with you very much.”
Just two guys. One of whom wanted to tell the other what he meant.
I used to write like this, back when I wrote letters to friends and lovers and parents and wives. I told people they were meaningful to me, along with myriad other banality. But the important part was the time and effort that it took to sit down and write, to put the letter down and pick it up again after a watch, or a port visit, or a Suez Canal transit.
I need to start writing letters again. Like GHWB, I’ll do it on a computer as my scrawl is increasingly unintelligible. There are a lot of people out there who helped shape me, whose love and friendship are of inestimable value to me. My soul desires connection with them, and a good letter seems a worthy start.
Oh, by the way. The two gents in the letter above would NEVER had allowed the crap that is going on in the GOP to occur on their watch.
UVA Basketball Update
Since my last offering on January 31, where I told some hard truths about UVA Men’s Basketball, the team has won two straight ACC games. Keeping in mind that the ACC is terrible this year and that both were at home, there is no getting around the fact that the team played better. There is not necessarily any connection between my criticism and the better play, but it cannot be dismissed.
Two wins in a row has the UVA faithful reaching into the jar of self-satisfying things we tell each other, specifically things like “trust Tony (Bennett)” and “we are a team that comes on late” and “they are finally starting to pull things together”. We’ll see.
Specifically, we’ll see tonight (Mon Feb 7) when UVA travels to Duke to play the only reputable team in the ACC this year, the hated Blue Devils. The only way to make the tournament is to win out the rest of the way, and then either win (automatic bid) or come in second in the tournament. I see either scenario’s odds as being long, very long.
“ The two gents in the letter above would NEVER had allowed the crap that is going on in the GOP to occur on their watch.”
What a different world we live in. Sad to see what the GOP has become. And sad to see that so many actually admire Donald Trump or the legion of sycophants he’s unmanned. HW and Ford and Reagan were gentlemen. May we see their like again in politicians in my lifetime.
Excellent reflections on writing letters. So powerful.