By Jack Koenig -
Under the Republican “leadership” (and I use that term loosely) of Ryan and McConnell, the GOP has now reached irrelevancy as was recently demonstrated by Trump negotiating with Pelosi and Schumer as opposed to the aforementioned two misfits. Pelosi is now the de facto Speaker of the House and Schumer is the de facto Senate Majority Leader. The Republican’s “Big Tent” has now become as obsolete as the Ringling Brothers Circus itself!
Trump swept Republican candidates into leadership positions in the 2016 national elections. Now Pelosi has flown in on her broom, dismounted, and used it to effectively sweep them out! In a display of total frustration at the Republican Party’s inability to repeal Obamacare and come up with a tax reform plan after 7 long years, one center right woman from Lake Forest stated during a recent political debate at a local coffee house: “The Republicans are as useless as used condoms!” And this woman’s comment was tame in comparison to others!
America has been let down by the Republican Party as the anti-Trump brigade of establishment politicians such as McConnell, Rubio, Murkowski, Collins, McCain, Graham, Flake, Paul Ryan, Kinzinger and their similar ilk, continue their assault on the Trump presidency. Unfortunately for them, their destructive behavior has backfired and the emergence of a viable 3rd Party looks more probable than ever. When that occurs (and it will), the Republican Party will be relegated to 4th place behind the new party, the democrats, and the “independents.” Given the contempt Americans have demonstrated for the GOP as shown in a recent Gallup poll, together with another Gallup pollshowing 61% of Americans support a new 3rd Party, that may occur sooner rather than later.
When I was discharged from the Navy, I returned to Chicago and found it as corrupt as ever. In self defense, and as an eternal optimist, I thought I could make a difference by becoming active in the Republican Party. In that time frame, the GOP was considered THE moral authority and held the high ground.
But over the years, the more principled and well intentioned members of the GOP were “shouted down” as a lesser number of clowns and jackasses brought the Party down to their own low levels. Slowly but surely, the Republicans surrendered the high ground and fought their way to the bottom with many becoming as morally, ethically, politically, and often, as criminally corrupt as the democrats. As I witnessed this destruction, I backed away from the party that had now become known as “the least corrupt of the corruptibles.” I also became selective in whose campaign I worked and occasionally helped democrats and Libertarians, whose moral standards were much higher than their GOP counterparts.
As the GOP continued sliding down the slippery slope and their “Big Tent” became more of a circus, like so many other supporters I went AWOL. When Perot emerged, I welcomed him with open arms and soon became the elected state chairman, president, and CEO of his Party, United We Stand America – Illinois. I was amazed at how many citizens throughout Illinois (and the Nation) held similar feelings. Many thought the GOP would have been jolted into reality by an upstart who just received 20%+ of the vote, but no, they just doubled down on their destructive path to oblivion.
Several years ago I was recruited by my township GOP to help with the organization as a committeeman. I quickly rose to 1st Vice Chair of the West Deerfield Republican Party and shortly after that, to third vice chair of the Lake County Republican organization. Shortly after that, I was appointed communications chairman of the 10th Congressional District Party.
But what I saw was discouraging: the miscreants in the Republican Party seemed to be in charge and It was now fashionable to represent their own morally, ethically, and politically corrupt values as opposed to the traditional values of their constituents. During one central committee meeting, I stated that the GOP had sunk from being a leader to becoming the least worse of the worse and I was worried it would go even lower.
How “spot on” I was!
America is fed-up with mediocracy and kowtowing to the least common denominator. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, their death spiral has begun and it is questionable if they can ever recover. For openers, it is now all but impossible to attract credible and qualified candidates, and without credible candidates, their demise is all but assured.
America deserves better…. but no one is listening!
