I appreciate the appeal of term limits, but they need true safeguards in place. CA has term limits and officials just play shuffle the cards moving to different positions. I assume it has led to the further entrenchment of the Dem machinery. Pelosi and company are truly corrupt yet she wields incredible power. Years ago when a friend mentioned the Newsom, Getty & Pelosi triangle I thought she was just chomping on sour grapes. It took two minutes to verify. CA has been destroyed .
To remove him without his being convicted of a crime is a travesty, especially given that Bob Menendez remains in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi has become a billionaire while in Congress.
We’ve been headed down the banana republic slip n slide for years now. State supreme courts are trying to keep candidates off ballots, people who didn’t riot but were “there” are prosecuted and thrown in jail. Oops, I got that backwards; jail first for them. Our culture is drowning in multiculturalism. I’m 65, and if the constant strain of change and selfish governance continues to push at the norms our country was built on, I’m fairly confident that in another 65 years, none of us will recognize the USA.
I can understand an expulsion under a very rare circumstance like being convicted of a crime. To me, that makes sense...we probably shouldn't have convicted criminals representing us.
Agreed but I also don't trust the current state of "justice", in DC in particular, to not be weaponized. As you pointed out, every member of Congress should be investigated but they pick one. I want everything back into the hands of the voters.
I use conviction as some sort of standard because without it...I don't know what the hell we have left lol
Doesn't mean our system is perfect, because it's far from, but I think it's good enough to try to build around and we still have the ability to appeal.
My initial reaction while reading this piece was vehement disagreement. Santos is an admitted fraud on so many levels (and a cad to boot). But your point is well made, the bar should be high for congressional action. The voters should have the say until he is found guilty of a crime worthy of expulsion. Thanks for the reasoned insight!
Dick Blumenthal from Connecticut claimed to have “served in Vietnam” when he was clearly not. Then he tried to cover it up by claiming that he “misspoke.” 🤦♂️🙄 No repercussions. The excuse? “Well, that’s a matter for the voters to decide during the election.” The Washington Uniparty is full of self-serving hypocrites and I can’t stand most of them. Genuine, honest servant-leaders are as rare as the dodo bird in the Congress.
To get political for a moment, there seems to be a double standard between Dems and the GOP. Dems seem to get a pass far more than Republicans. Congressman Fire Alarm is another example. We shall see what happens with Menendez, but the allegations against him are serious and seem to be supported by a lot of evidence yet the Dems have made no moves to get rid of him because the Senate is so close. For them it’s all about raw power politics. And I suspect the GOP hopped on the bandwagon with Santos because it presented a “beat your chest” moment and Santos was considered expendable. They’re nearly all disgusting and we’d be better off without the lot of them.
Great column Adam. I couldn’t agree more with everything you wrote.
I'll suggest that it's not hypocrisy at work but rather bog-standard Leninism. To the Leninist what is moral is what advances the Party (or the Cause). Under that standard "hypocrisy" is a meaningless term relegated to outmoded bourgeois morality.
As for the 105 GOP on the bandwagon, some may have been "beating their chests" (if so, they're even bigger idiots than I figured them for). Others were undoubtedly obeying marching orders -- not out of conviction, but out of need to protect either their spot at the trough or to protect the "privacy" of the contents of their Stasi...I mean FBI files.
Yeah, you’re probably right but at the end of the day whether through hypocrisy or Leninism they end up in the same location, which is antithetical to freedom, a Democratic Republic and the people. I suppose I’m just a member of the bourgeois with outmoded morality.
I agree that this is a very dangerous trend. It certainly makes it clear to me that we no longer have a 2 party system and am starting to believe that we probably haven't had one for more than a decade.
Just asking--What is Santos' political affiliation or predisposition? Now let me guess: No one on the leftist/woke side will even be considered for censure, let alone expulsion? Or maybe we should demand a thorough housecleaning of all our elected representatives, beginning at the top. Impeach.
This has been the new normal since Trump was POTUS. It continues as the left continues its attempts to keep him out of office in 2024; similar to their efforts to get him out of office when he was elected by the people. We the people know the misdeeds of those who represent us, but come election time, we put the same liars and thieves back in office. The threshold for removal is lying only when it's makes good political sense.
This is the new norm. I expect it will happen on a semi regular basis now. Congress has become a joke. Term limits now!
Bro, we so need term limits.
I appreciate the appeal of term limits, but they need true safeguards in place. CA has term limits and officials just play shuffle the cards moving to different positions. I assume it has led to the further entrenchment of the Dem machinery. Pelosi and company are truly corrupt yet she wields incredible power. Years ago when a friend mentioned the Newsom, Getty & Pelosi triangle I thought she was just chomping on sour grapes. It took two minutes to verify. CA has been destroyed .
I beg to differ John.
It's not the new norm. So long as the elected official is part of the get-along-go-along Uniparty, he/she won't be touched.
This new norm, as you call it, applies only to the boat-rockers.
To remove him without his being convicted of a crime is a travesty, especially given that Bob Menendez remains in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi has become a billionaire while in Congress.
We’ve been headed down the banana republic slip n slide for years now. State supreme courts are trying to keep candidates off ballots, people who didn’t riot but were “there” are prosecuted and thrown in jail. Oops, I got that backwards; jail first for them. Our culture is drowning in multiculturalism. I’m 65, and if the constant strain of change and selfish governance continues to push at the norms our country was built on, I’m fairly confident that in another 65 years, none of us will recognize the USA.
IMO, the only people who should be able to remove an elected representative should be the voters who elected him.
I can understand an expulsion under a very rare circumstance like being convicted of a crime. To me, that makes sense...we probably shouldn't have convicted criminals representing us.
But other than that, let the voters choose.
Agreed but I also don't trust the current state of "justice", in DC in particular, to not be weaponized. As you pointed out, every member of Congress should be investigated but they pick one. I want everything back into the hands of the voters.
I use conviction as some sort of standard because without it...I don't know what the hell we have left lol
Doesn't mean our system is perfect, because it's far from, but I think it's good enough to try to build around and we still have the ability to appeal.
Agreed. I wonder sometimes if we should uncap the House. It would be absolute chaos but possibly more functional than we have now.
Yep, maybe.
Nothing in the constitution about 435.
Time for an Article 5 Convention before it is too late to right the ship.
My initial reaction while reading this piece was vehement disagreement. Santos is an admitted fraud on so many levels (and a cad to boot). But your point is well made, the bar should be high for congressional action. The voters should have the say until he is found guilty of a crime worthy of expulsion. Thanks for the reasoned insight!
Thank you for taking the time to read it and understand my perspective.
Great read, thank you.
My pleasure
Dick Blumenthal from Connecticut claimed to have “served in Vietnam” when he was clearly not. Then he tried to cover it up by claiming that he “misspoke.” 🤦♂️🙄 No repercussions. The excuse? “Well, that’s a matter for the voters to decide during the election.” The Washington Uniparty is full of self-serving hypocrites and I can’t stand most of them. Genuine, honest servant-leaders are as rare as the dodo bird in the Congress.
To get political for a moment, there seems to be a double standard between Dems and the GOP. Dems seem to get a pass far more than Republicans. Congressman Fire Alarm is another example. We shall see what happens with Menendez, but the allegations against him are serious and seem to be supported by a lot of evidence yet the Dems have made no moves to get rid of him because the Senate is so close. For them it’s all about raw power politics. And I suspect the GOP hopped on the bandwagon with Santos because it presented a “beat your chest” moment and Santos was considered expendable. They’re nearly all disgusting and we’d be better off without the lot of them.
Great column Adam. I couldn’t agree more with everything you wrote.
I'll suggest that it's not hypocrisy at work but rather bog-standard Leninism. To the Leninist what is moral is what advances the Party (or the Cause). Under that standard "hypocrisy" is a meaningless term relegated to outmoded bourgeois morality.
As for the 105 GOP on the bandwagon, some may have been "beating their chests" (if so, they're even bigger idiots than I figured them for). Others were undoubtedly obeying marching orders -- not out of conviction, but out of need to protect either their spot at the trough or to protect the "privacy" of the contents of their Stasi...I mean FBI files.
Yeah, you’re probably right but at the end of the day whether through hypocrisy or Leninism they end up in the same location, which is antithetical to freedom, a Democratic Republic and the people. I suppose I’m just a member of the bourgeois with outmoded morality.
I agree that this is a very dangerous trend. It certainly makes it clear to me that we no longer have a 2 party system and am starting to believe that we probably haven't had one for more than a decade.
Just asking--What is Santos' political affiliation or predisposition? Now let me guess: No one on the leftist/woke side will even be considered for censure, let alone expulsion? Or maybe we should demand a thorough housecleaning of all our elected representatives, beginning at the top. Impeach.
He's a Republican and more so states he's a conservative as well.
Of course I knew all that. May I have asked a rhetorical question?
Oh my mistake lol
This has been the new normal since Trump was POTUS. It continues as the left continues its attempts to keep him out of office in 2024; similar to their efforts to get him out of office when he was elected by the people. We the people know the misdeeds of those who represent us, but come election time, we put the same liars and thieves back in office. The threshold for removal is lying only when it's makes good political sense.