"We're Electing Idiots."

Welcome to the GOP in 2023. Liz Cheney reveals her secret identity as Captain Obvious.

Life is hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.

• John Wayne

The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.

• Harlan Ellison

It’s no secret that I’ve never been a fan of former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and her politics. Her surname is all you need to know. Politically, she’s always fallen somewhere far to the right of center, but where she’s broken with her colleagues is with her grip on reality. She’s never bought into the collective delusion that characterizes today’s GOP…and her attachment to reality robbed her of a political career that held considerable promise.

Unlike most people, I’m not about to metaphorically pat Cheney on the back for acknowledging what rational people have long known- that The Former Guy is directly responsible for the January 6th revolt and should be held to account. Her former Republican colleagues were willing to give him a pass simply because he was one of them, whereas they would’ve hung a Democrat by their testicles.

The hypocrisy was notable and difficult to stomach, and, to her credit, Cheney called her colleagues out for it. It made her a pariah within the GOP House Caucus, and she paid for it. She was defeated for re-election in Wyoming by Harriet Hagemann, a Trumpbot who’s rarely blinked or had an original thought. Ultimately, the GOP cast out Cheney, and Republicans thought they were done with her. What they didn’t count on was Cheney not being done with them.

And she’s got a few things on her mind:

Outspoken Donald Trump critic and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) summed up the problem with U.S. politics Monday night: "We're electing idiots."

The ex-Jan.6 committee Vice Chair and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney was speaking about "the future of bipartisanship" at an event at New York City's 92nd Street Y.

"What we've done in our politics is create a situation where we're electing idiots," she said to applause from the audience.

Those are hardly unique or original sentiments, of course. What IS new and original is someone from the political class being able to call out American political culture for what it is- a confederacy of dunces.

The American polity exists in its current state because Republicans have beaten it down by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Intelligent, capable, and enthusiastic Democratic candidates are viewed with suspicion. They’re derided as “elitists” who are unable to relate to everyday Americans.

In effect, the more intelligent and capable one is, the more difficult it is to prove that you deserve to win.

"And so, I don't look at it through the lens of, is this what I should do or what I shouldn't do. I look at it through the lens of, how do we elect serious people?

"And I think electing serious people can't be partisan."

Admittedly, I’m a Far-Left Democrat and yes, I’m about as Liberal as they come. I’d vote for a Republican at about the same time I’d agree to have a lobotomy sans anesthetic. But that’s based on what I see in the GOP now. There’s no way I could, in good conscience, vote for a Republican- ANY Republican, based on what the GOP stands for today. Because what the GOP stands for has nothing to do with good governance or moving the party forward.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but today’s GOP is less a political party than a cult of personality.

While I would still never even consider voting for Liz Cheney as a Republican, she does make a very good point- “electing serious people can’t be partisan.” When I lived in Houston, a good friend considered running for Congress. Given the Congressional district he lived in, he would’ve had to run as a Republican to have had any chance of winning.

I knew Richard to be a thoroughly decent person- honest, forthright, and a person of unquestioned integrity. Fortunately, I didn’t live in the district he would’ve run in (he eventually decided not to run), so I didn’t have to face the dilemma of whether to vote for a Republican. As much as I admired him, I’d seen too much of the GOP in Texas and nationally. I knew what the party would do to a freshman Congressman, especially one who went to Washington thinking he might be an independent voice.

Republicans in Congress emphasize and value one thing only- obedience. Richard would’ve been eaten alive by the process and the machine behind it. His voice would’ve been lost and overwhelmed by the overwhelming pressure to conform. He would’ve been forced to march in lockstep and vote with the idiots- people like Louie Gohmert, Kevin Brady, and their ilk.

Electing serious people shouldn’t be partisan. Unfortunately, Democrats are the only ones currently interested in electing serious people. Look at the prominent Republicans in Congress; the voices you hear aren’t those of serious people. Republicans who might hope to be serious are quickly drowned out and marginalized.

When the people attracting attention are those who, like Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Trailer Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Jim Jordan, have done nothing to make things better for America and Americans, when do we get to serious? The short answer, of course, is that we can’t. The GOP Republican Caucus is full of profoundly unserious people who have no intention of doing the job they were elected to do. It’s all about the circus and the attention they can generate for themselves. They can monetize that attention, and the endless cycle of faux outrage makes for endless fundraising opportunities.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for effective legislating, and if there’s one thing today’s GOP Republican Caucus doesn’t do, it’s legislate. All Congressional Republicans stand for is undying opposition to everything and anything Joe Biden wants to do.

If the President came out strongly in favor of breathing, half the Republican Caucus would pass out from holding their breath. It doesn’t matter what it is or how beneficial it may be; if Joe Biden gets behind something, it’s ipso facto Of The Devil, and Republicans must oppose it with every fiber of their beings.

So, while I agree with former Rep. Cheney that electing serious people can’t be partisan, this requires that serious people run for election. And right now, the GOP isn’t running serious people.

They’re running idiots…and they’re getting elected.

Elect clowns. Expect a circus.