Friday, July 07, 2023

Are They “Hooligans” If They Are The Party?

Not that I disagree:
In its early days, the caucus made life miserable for Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who eventually decided he’d rather retire than deal with this bunch of political hooligans. When Republicans took back the House in 2022, Freedom Caucus members figured they could do something similar to new Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif," Waldman wrote on Friday. 
While Greene seemingly fit right in with the group, her error, strangely, was becoming a part of the system, which in their eyes is flawed.
The Freedom Caucus exists to “disrupt the system.” Which, now that I say that, sounds a lot like the radical groups of the late Sixties and early Seventies that became famous not for fighting the establishment, but for being so anti-establishment they couldn’t establish a coherent group themselves.

You can’t fight the system if you don’t have an alternative system to replace it. It’s the fundamental principle of a problem/solution argument as taught in Freshman English: never point out a problem unless you have a solution to offer. Behold:

The Freedom Caucus has no solution to offer. Railing against “the system,” they refuse to even have a system for themselves, so they can actually get things done.
That leaves the rest of the Freedom Caucus in a familiar position for hard-right true believers: angry and frustrated at both the continued existence of a large federal government and their inability to do much about it," Waldman wrote. "But one thing they could do is tell Marjorie Taylor Greene they don’t want her in their club anymore. And they’re struggling to even do that. It’s a sign of just how impotent they’ve become."
Yup, large Marge is refusing their calls, so she claims they haven’t kicked her out. Apparently this has the caucus stymied.

It’s no different than Trump, who can’t accomplish anything that doesn’t involve a GOP Senate (Supreme Court appointments) or a GOP Congress (biggest tax cut for the rich in American history). Even his supporters understand a problem must have solutions, so they imagine he solved problems he never understood (or solved). Neither faction has a structure, a system for accomplishing things, and the Democrats are united from Biden to AOC, which has given us a healthy economy, rising employment and wages, and infrastructure coming to a town near you just in time for 2024. 

Trump, meanwhile, promises to give voters the power to elect local school principals, and calls the sitting President a thief:
Projection is a cruel mistress. These positions are sure to win him favor in November of next year.

Oh, and the Democrats have party who knows how to work the system rather than just chew on the tires 🛞. The Republicans have the cult of Trump.

I like our chances.
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