Political Witch: The Kevin McCarthy Debacle – The Lunatics are Running the Asylum

McCarthy is an arrogant individual, so they’re quite a few headlines chortling over the man’s down fall. Other headlines are making fun of the Republican Party, and their utter inability to come together, and select a speaker, so the government can get back to business. But there’s something more insidious happening here. What we’re witnessing is the triumphant power of the Freedom Caucus – the extreme right of the Republican Party. Founded by Jim Jordan in 2015, the Freedom Caucus is composed of the most conservative, far right members of the Republican Party. Twenty Republicans voted against McCarthy. Nineteen of those Republicans are affiliated with the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus does not publish its membership, but Pew Research has confirmed the identities of 36 members. (See links below) So how come the Freedom Caucus, which isn’t all that large, has so much power? How come they can shut down the government?

As per Drew DeSilver from Pew Research:
“Simple arithmetic: Currently, Republicans have 247 seats in the House to 188 for the Democrats, which would seem to be a comfortable majority. But if the 36 (or more) Freedom Caucus members vote as a bloc against the GOP leadership’s wishes, their effective strength falls to 211 or fewer—that is, less than the majority needed to elect a new speaker, pass bills and conduct most other business.”
 
What this means is whoever the Freedom Caucus wants for Republican Speaker of the House, the Freedom Caucus will get, because they are the most powerful voting bloc in Congress. What is being reported, as of yesterday and today, is that McCarthy is negotiating with the Freedom Caucus, giving them even more power, by compromising with their fascist demands, in order to win the speakership. Though I’ve read repeatedly that the GOP looks like a bunch of disorganized fools; though I’ve read repeatedly that the GOP can’t allow a group of nihilists to destroy the party, the reality is the members of the Freedom Caucus have the party by the short-hairs and they’re not budging. Far right conservatives, we’re-going-to-do-whatever-the-fuck-we-want-and-to-hell-with-everybody-else, are in a position of extraordinary power, which will impact every single one of us in the coming year. And it gets worse: state legislatures in the most conservative of states have formed and are in the process of forming their own Freedom Caucuses.
 
Members of the Freedom Caucus, funded by the Koch Brothers and Club for Growth, trained by The Heritage Foundation’s Leadership Institute, and nurtured by the Federalist Society, are determined to remake the government according to the desires of their rapacious capitalist overlords, which will dovetail perfectly with the theocracy being implemented by the (same) dark money that stacked the Supreme Court. That was the point. Far-right policies imposed upon the population and a far-right judiciary to support those policies. The reward for doing the masters bidding: STRUCTUAL POWER. The ability to make the people do what they want, when they want. What is best for humanity and planet will never be part of the conversation.
 
I do not for one red hot minute, trust Democrats to make concessions that are of, by, and for the benefit to the people.  Compromise is NOT a good thing, if the opposing party keeps moving the damn goal posts. This year you can expect emergency legislation, that absolutely, positively, has to be passed, to be held hostage by the Freedom Caucus, until they get the cuts to Social Security, Medicare, government spending, they are angling for, or the money for crisis pregnancy centers.
 
Given the fact the members of the Freedom Caucus are all power-mad egomaniacs, “it’s all about me-me-me,” I’m hoping they’ll destroy themselves. Member of the Freedom Caucus are clearly not the brightest bulbs in the box, and don’t seem to realize they will be unceremoniously discarded when they are no longer of value to the overlords. Just like Trump.
 
Buckle up my darlings, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
 
Live loud, love fierce, and suffer no fools.
Political Witch 1/5/2023
 
ART: Heinrich Anton Muller