Conservatives in my state are currently abuzz with talk of gubernatorial primary candidates. One candidate seems favored by activists on the right, partly because he’s saying key things they want to hear but also because he’s the best-funded and deemed most able to beat the Democrat in November.
Upon hearing that this candidate previously served in Congress, I decided to put the matter into perspective by looking up his score in the respected Freedom Index. The index grades representatives on their adherence to the U.S. Constitution, principles of liberty, and fiscal responsibility. During his six terms in the U.S. House, this individual, now proffered as the gubernatorial champion of the right, scored an average of 33 percent adherence to traditional conservative values–worse than simply guessing on a true/false quiz.
Rolling the Dice
I did a little more research and discovered that during the same period, the Republican delegation in the U.S. House as a whole scored a whopping 50 percent adherence to the constitutional rule of law. That’s a 50/50 chance that on any given day, Republicans might protect our God-given rights or give them away. We could get the same results if we just sent a pair of dice to Congress and said, “Give ’em a roll and let’s see which way the country goes.”
Continue reading “Rolling the Dice on Republicans: Has the Right Become Delusional?”
It seems to be a popular notion among the conservative right to think that hypocrisy is the exclusive domain of the liberal left. However, in recent years I have become increasingly aware of the presence of hypocrisy infecting the political right and I find it quite disturbing.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, depending whether you were receiving the “Republican 2017 Congressional District Census,” or the “Official 2017 Democratic Party Survey”; whether your party had just achieved victory, or suffered defeat; whether your party was in power, trying to defend the country against the forces of evil, or was out of power, trying to take the country back from the forces of evil. Whichever survey you received, one thing was certain: The country could only be saved if you “send us your money!”
A couple years ago, while reading an article about some internal strife in my state’s Republican Party, I was surprised to read that, “the state GOP has a policy of not endorsing one Republican over another.” I had noticed that this seemed to be the party’s practice, but didn’t know it was an actual policy.
“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature … If the next centennial does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”
The Conservative Right seems to operate from a general assumption that things keep getting worse because liberals are in power and democrats win all the elections. However, I got curious and did a little research on the topic. I discovered that over the past 20 years, republicans have held 57% of the control of our federal government – 68% if you add in the Supreme Court – that’s a 68/32 split in favor of the republicans. Among the union states, the elephant party holds complete control (legislature and governor) of nearly half the states (23) – more than three times as many as the dreaded donkeys (7). It turns out that America is overwhelmingly republican-controlled.
Perspective 