The 118th Congress will be a dumpster fire

Photo credit: michaelmoore.com

January 3, 2022. Today, the 118th Congress will convene in Washington, DC, under the Capitol Dome, which was built by slaves, burned by the British, rebuilt and then attacked by Donald Trump and his insurrectionists in 2021.

We have just begun the 247th year of the independence of the United States, which makes our young nation the oldest constitutional republic in the world.

The Capitol building is the most beautiful in the United States. It is instantly recognizable around the world to billions of people as the “citadel of democracy.” It is the place where the men and women who have won elections gather from all 50 states to represent their fellow citizens and conduct the nation’s business.

Every two years, a new Congress convenes to continue the American experiment that was begun in 1776. Each elected member of Congress takes an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States, which is the foundation of American sovereignty, democracy and freedom.

There has never been a new Congress in which 121 members will renew their Constitutional oath who have already broken it by participating in an attempt to overturn the legitimate results of a presidential election by voting to nullify millions of legally cast votes. The result would have been the installation of an illegitimate president against the will of the American people. It would have ended the American experiment. It would have made Donald Trump a dictator. It is the most disgraceful moment in the history of the United States Congress. Michael Moore has rightly suggested that we should all contact our Capitol Hill representatives to demand that those members of Congress who voted to overthrow the US government be constitutionally prohibited from taking their seat in the new session of Congress.

Today, Kevin McCarthy, one of the most loathsome political figures of the post-civil war era, will seek to become the Speaker of the House, succeeding a woman whose historic service was epic and honorable. 

Kevin McCarthy is a liar. He is a shameless man who lacks character, grit, toughness, resolve, courage and all of the worthy attributes that are the cornerstones of political leadership. He is corrupt, arrogant and weak beyond all description and measure. He is a pathetic figure who is held in contempt by the men and women he is begging for votes. He is their prey and each predator looks at him and smiles at his weakness. The only question at hand is one of advantage. Do the various factions believe they will advance their own agendas more salubriously by steamrolling the weakling, or making one of their own the Speaker? The knives are out and the proverbial blood will flow because, in politics, weakness and pathetic pandering invite attack and destruction. 

The Republican majority is a rogues’ gallery of sociopaths, imposters, criminals, liars and unworthy men and women who will sustain the United States in a constant state of chaos, uncertainty and nonsense for the next two years. The Republican majority is corrupt, indecent, disloyal, and a substantial number of them are certifiable. 

The American people will pay a high price for their lassitude and carelessness. Perhaps the lesson ahead will be severe enough to teach the lesson that America’s business is a life and death affair. It should not be left in the hands of the dishonest, addled, corrupt, ignorant and crazy people that share little in common — except for the magic letter “R” next to their name that seems to insulate them from reality and consequences in the eyes of a majority of their voters.

There will be chaos ahead because a generation of low men and women, who are guided by selfishness and ambition, tasted political power during the Trump era.

Almost to a person, they were detached from a love of country and the concept of service. It seems that almost none of them had any concept around the nation’s history and the blood sacrifice required to birth and maintain American freedom. All they cared about was their ambition in the moment. It seems there was no sense of duty, responsibility or obligation to the country. There was an absence of love, patriotism and respect for the achievements of our ancestors. At the same time, there was a betrayal of our descendants through the abdication of the trusteeship that binds each generation of Americans to — both individually and collectively — make it a bit better for the next. We live in a dangerous hour that requires men and women of probity and judgement to serve their country with devotion.

The devolution of patriotism and lust for power and prestige is perfectly captured in a series of chilling emails between Hope Hicks, Corey Lewandowski’s former mistress, and — as ludicrous as it is to write these words — Ivanka Trump’s Chief of Staff:

Donald Trump is finished, but his legacy remains. The cowardice, cynicism and societal corruption that brought him to power are alive, well and flourishing in Washington, DC. It will make the 118th Congress a disaster for the ages. There should be no mystery around what will happen next because it will be a continuation of the last seven years of elected Republican perfidy. 

Things will get worse before they get better. They will get worse because they must. They have not gotten bad enough for the American people to put their collective foot down and demand a restoration of honesty, integrity and decency in American politics. Though we live in an age of corruption that is unequalled in over 130 years, it has not gotten bad enough for the American people to crush it yet. Though Washington, DC, is awash in Middle Eastern blood money and foreign interests operate in the open as if they were the local PTA, it has not gotten bad enough for the American people to notice. 

Eventually, they will. 

Today, the American people may get to watch a group of wild-eyed extremists, insurrectionists and loons try and topple the ambitions of Washington, DC’s most corrupt and cynical man. While it may upend the ambitions of his preferred lobbyist, the epically corrupt Jeff Miller, it’s a good thing, even if the people carrying it out are nuts. 

It will prove once again the wisdom of John Kennedy who issued an unheard warning to men like Kevin McCarthy many years ago. It was this:

“But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”