The star of the Show Trial has been Republican Liz Cheney, whom the Democrats have used to make their principal case against Donald Trump. Media have praised her for this act of self-sacrifice, noting that she is likely to lose her seat in Congress for her trouble.
So, too, is fellow committee Republican Adam Kinzinger. But he's not being ousted by the voters. Rather, Illinois Democrats rewarded him for his service by drawing him out of his own district.
There are occasionally politicians who do the right thing at the cost of their own careers. That is not the case with Cheney. She has done the wrong thing, not by opposing Trump but by participating in a sham process, a kangaroo court.
And she is going to lose her seat because she is doing nothing about what voters actually care about. She is not holding the Biden administration accountable for its failures. She is basically using her seat to carry out a family political crusade.
She will find herself a cushy job as a lobbyist, pundit, or professor. She knows she is feathering her nest every time she attacks Trump. She is no martyr. She is the archetype of the unprincipled politician with too much power.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
