Sunday Morning Post (V.3, #20) - Happy Trails, GOP

We gather today to give a not-so-fond farewell to the Republican Party.  Many of us have seen their demise coming for several years, but their actions last week were more than just a gentle, not-so-subtle, push towards oblivion.  Oh hell, let’s call it for it was: political suicide.

Last week House Representative Liz Cheney — daughter of ex-Vice President Darth Chaney — was ousted from her third-most-powerful Republican leadership position in Congress.  Her crime?  Using campaign funds for personal use?  No.  Soliciting physical favors from underaged persons?  Oh no.  Swapping quid pro quo favors with a foreign power?  Oh hell no.  Nothing so mundane as these old sins which used to guarantee a politician’s early forced retirement.

No, Cheney’s crime — as possibly the most conservative voice in Congress in recent memory — was to speak out against ex-President #45.  Imagine supporting the monster 93% of the time and finding that is not enough to guarantee a solid place in the political hierarchy.  What nerve!  That’s gratitude for you!

Make no mistake about my sympathies: in normal times I am not a big fan of Liz Cheney’s attitude towards governing.  In the old days, I would have joined the villagers with a torch to burn her at the stake.  After all, I still have my liberal bona fides to think about.  However, these are not normal times. Cheney has recognized that her past actions are for naught if the whole ship of democracy disappears under the waves of lies and confusion.

Cheney and a handful of other similarly disenchanted Republicans are vowing to fight the cult which has become the Republican Party.  I hope that the rebels can gather enough support (i.e., money) to mount some sort of meaningful opposition in the next two election cycles.  I write that, yet know that this is hope against hope.  Most likely it will be more than four years before the movement takes hold at the national level.

For now, I am optimistic that those believers in small government and fiscal conservatism will find their voice in whatever the new group decides to call themselves.  I have never been and won’t be a fan of such ideology, but these folks do deserve a place in a free and fair democracy.

In the meantime, we will look the other way and hope the best for Liz Cheney. I realize that this attitude is no better than the MAGA-hatted evangelicals who look away from #45’s past, but it would not be politics if it were not for strange bedfellows.

We close our service today with a hymn from the old West.

And don’t come back!

(Thank you for reading.  RIP GOP, 1854ish to 2021[?]).