Freaks, Geeks and the GOP

Washington, D.C. – The GOP is on a prolonged search for significance. If party leaders are smart, they won't take too long. There's an election coming up in less than two years, and the Republicans need to win if they are to reverse the move toward green socialism President Joe Biden and his allies are pushing.

Let's face it. Biden won't be happy until he undoes everything Reagan did. He may not want to put the Berlin Wall back up, but he'd no doubt be very happy if he could get the Dow back under 1,000, wipe out decades of economic growth and shrink the U.S. GDP until it's equal to what passes for good in France.

What's wrong with the GOP right now is an issue that runs deeper than most people seem to think. A single good election won't solve it – but it will get things headed back in the right direction. Until then, and for all intents and purposes, the freaks and geeks who want to be in charge (and in some cases are) have exchanged permanent, positive change for status, enrichment and notoriety.

Right now, partisanship is at its peak. The “Us vs. Them” mentality that has political activists thinking and acting like sports fans, complete with “merch” has corrupted the American electoral process. Our system is designed for thinking people, no matter what the cynics say, and it needs intellect just as much as it needs emotion. People need something or someone to vote “for” not just against, which is why Reagan's 11^th Commandment – Though shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican – is as much a tactical necessity as it is a strategy to come across as inclusive and non-threatening.

Is it important to highlight the differences between candidates on issues of importance – like whether cutting the top marginal income tax rate will lead to growth? Sure, but remember what the progressives did with the idea, which formed the core of a policy package that ended up producing 30 years of amazing growth in the U.S. economy – when George H. W. Bush called it “voodoo economics.”

Republicans, especially those more concerned with internal, intra-party struggles than with defeating the left, forget the progressive lie in wait, ready at a moment's notice to exploit our divisions to their advantage. That makes the self-proclaimed purists who often speak before thinking in our midst a danger to us all. They think they speak for the American people but the lip service these headline-grabbing status seekers who think they can make a meaningful difference by being outrageous pay to their concerns would be laughable if it did not cause so many self-inflicted wounds.

Both parties indeed have their share of freaks and geeks. The ones in the GOP get more attention because most of the folks who report on U.S. politics in the national media help the Democrats keep their crazy hidden. There are, for example, members of the House Democratic Caucus who'd be absolutely, uncontrollably giddy if Israel suddenly ceased to exist. That's not in the headlines but let one Republican make a comment that can be repurposed on Twitter as a conspiratorial allusion to “Jewish space lasers” and you never hear the end of it.

Ultimately though, the Republicans are largely responsible for their current mess. Throughout the last election, in state after state, participants in the GOP nominating process rejected responsible Reagan Republicans campaigning on a platform of a strong national defense, growth through tax and spending cuts and who affirmed traditional party positions on contentious social issues in favor of showboating hucksters running for office for the seemingly singular purpose of sticking their thumb in the GOP establishment's eye.

That, as the man said, is not a way to run a railroad. Instead of nominating good conservatives who could win in purple and blue states, in many places the people nominated were oddballs and misfits who didn't know what they were doing, managed by consultants who didn't know how to win.

As a result, the GOP strength in the 118^th Congress, which begins its first session on January 3, is reduced rather than magnified. Instead of presiding over a 53 or 54-seat majority, Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, R, is preparing for another two years as Senate minority leader. On the other side of the U.S. Capitol, California Republican Kevin McCarthy is still cutting deals to get the votes he needs to become the next Speaker of the House.

Into all this fall two impediments: The House Freedom Caucus, five of whom are publicly committed to voting against McCarthy, and newly elected New York Republican Congressman George Santos, source of a headache no one in the GOP needed.

Santos, who was soundly defeated when he ran in 2018, turns out to be a serial prevaricator. Almost nothing he claimed about himself appears to check out – something it is rumored state party leaders knew but since they expected he'd lose again, chose to do nothing to block his nomination.

Now every Republican is going to be asked whether Santos is fit to serve in Congress. The high-bar answer is “No.” The truth is a little different – especially when you consider just who gets elected nowadays – but American politics are not governed by the Marquess of Queensberry rules. It's hardball, and everyone can see he has to go, but it creates the need for a special election the Republicans might not win because the Democrats will do everything possible to capture the seat.

With an incoming GOP U.S. House majority of just 222 seats compared to 212 for the Democrats, there's no room for error. Even if party leaders can persuade defeated NY gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin to move into the district and run for the seat in the event of a vacancy, the seat is still marginal.

There's also no room for error if the Freedom Caucus succeeds in keeping McCarthy from becoming Speaker. The lucrative employment prospects that await him outside the halls of Congress may be too tempting to resist. His congressional seat is solidly Republican, but with the control of Congress on the line, the Democrats will do everything they can to win there, too, if a special election is called.

In politics, it's best to make a good deal when you can and move on to the next thing. If you're in the majority, you can control what the next thing is and when you can go back to the last thing to get the rest of what you originally wanted and more. The freaks and geeks who hold the balance of power in the GOP today don't seem to understand that, and, as a result, they're doing more harm to their cause than good.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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