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Real Conservatives: Lessons in Morality From the UK [1]
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Date: 2022-07-08
On Thursday July 7, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to resign his office. The issues that forced his resignation were based on moral turpitude in a series of scandals that had long plagued his administration. While the conservative party still held a majority in Parliament, it was the actions of his fellow conservative party members that brought about Johnson’s resignation.
Specifically, as the weight of the various scandals accumulated, numerous senior-level officials, apparently disgusted with the reported behavior, spoke out and tendered their resignations. What began as a trickle, by 10 AM that morning it soon cascaded into the resignation of 59 key Members of Parliament.
Their actions can be contrasted with those of the spineless members of the Republican Party in America. Confronted with indisputable evidence of gross misconduct, and possible crimes, of former President Trump, the vast majority of their political ranks have gone out of their way to remain in his good graces even to the point of lying in the face of overwhelming evidence. It is clear that the British parliamentarians place far greater values on morality than do their American counterparts.
Especially egregious have been the actions of the senior GOP leadership in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Immediately following the insurrection of January 6, 2021, Kevin McCarthy took to the floor to proclaim that Trump bore personal responsibility for precipitating that event. Within a month he scurrilously traveled to Mar-a-Lago to beg forgiveness and kiss the proverbial ring. Shortly thereafter McCarthy shamelessly reversed his position and brought wrath upon the few Republicans who deigned to speak the truth.
Far worse, McCarthy moved to block congressional investigations into what will go down in history as one of the worst days in American governance. While Speaker Pelosi established a bipartisan congressional investigation, acting as an obstructionist, McCarthy initially sought to place members of his party on the committee that were likely participants in the event. That includes Representative Jim Jordan, a close Trump ally, and one who was likely to be called as a witness. When reasonably rebuffed by Speaker Pelosi, McCarthy withdrew all Republican support for the hearings, a move that will likely be seen as a tactical failure because they became blind to the proceedings.
Similarly, the actions of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are a bit more puzzling. McConnell initially stated from the Senate floor that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection of that January. Later, he would ameliorate his position and become more conciliatory by refusing to support an extensive bipartisan commission for investigation into those events. What makes this more perplexing is the personal animosity that Trump has shown toward McConnell calling him, “a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack” and previously a “broken old crow.”
The following two years have brought a myriad of potential Republican candidates who have bent over backward to reaffirm Trump’s position on several topics, but none more so than the categorically disproven Big Lie. Even today, in primary after primary, these despicable amoebae regurgitate the notion that there was massive fraud in the 2020 election. That, even though Trump’s injudiciously appointed Attorney General, Bill Barr, stated under oath that following their extensive investigations, no such fraud occurred.
It has been reasonably well established that Trump is not a conservative. Remember, in 2011 he was a Democrat and then officially registered as an Independent in 2011. Though moving to divide the country with his litmus-tested (anti Roe) Supreme Court nominees, previously the morally rudderless Trump declared that he was, “very pro-choice.” A classic narcissist, Trump assumes any political position he deems advantageous. What the Republican sycophants have failed to learn is that you can never love a narcissist enough. That has been clearly demonstrated with the political landscape littered with the bodies of one-time allies he unceremoniously or savagely discarded when their usefulness to him diminished.
The national embarrassment is that the Republican Party indisputably has become a cult of personality. As astutely stated in an article in The Atlantic, “The sheer scale of Donald Trump’s depravity unmatched in the history of the American presidency, and the Republican Party made it possible.” It does appear that there are no lower limits where some Republicans not will stoop. In the period during which there are frequent mass shootings, consider the ad by disgraced former Missouri governor Eric Greitens, in which he advocated the hunting and execution of what he called RINOs, meaning members of his own party who did not support the outrageous lies being perpetrated by other baseline Republicans.
As repeatedly demonstrated by the Congressional Hearings regarding the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and many other egregious events, the silence of the Republican senior leadership is staggering. It appears there is nothing, no disgraceful act, so bad that they will step forward and collectively display a modicum of moral fortitude.
Although this country, the United States of America, was born in a war of independence fought against King George III, America and the United Kingdom have long-established special bonds. That relationship has held through world wars and other global trials and tribulations. Clearly it is time Republicans of all ilk to take note of the behavior of their conservative cousins in the UK. At least they, when confronted with repeated unacceptable behavior, were willing to step forward, placing their reputations and careers on the line, and declaring were absolute limits that they deemed acceptable. Unfortunately, in the US, our Republican Party has neither the backbone nor the moral inclination to display even a modicum of honor or integrity.
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