Why You Need To Stop Defending Mediocre Politicians

The voting for the lesser of two evils strategy ain't gonna cut it.

For those who religiously follow my work, I rarely ever heap praise on politicians. A political mentor once told me the following: If you don’t have anything negative to say about a politician, don’t say it all.

That makes perfect sense. Politicians receive copious amounts of undeserved praise and attention from sycophantic media outlets and naive voters. Unsurprisingly, the constant stream of praise politicians receive incentivizes them to routinely engage in bad political behavior.

This is particularly relevant when observing the Republican Party’s political trajectory since the end of World War II. What was initially a party founded on protectionism and an emphasis on domestic infrastructure investment in the middle of the 19th century, the GOP has embraced so-called “free trade”, perpetual foreign policy intervention abroad, and slavish devotion to mega-corporations.

Every now and then, there would be movements like the Reagan Revolution, the Buchanan Brigades, the Ron Paul Revolution, and Donald Trump’s America First movement the try to shake things up and move the Republican Party in a markedly anti-establishment direction whether it be nationalism in the cases of Buchanan and Trump or a return to limited government republicanism in the cases of Reagan and Trump.

In each of these cases, energized disgruntled voters took to the campaign trails and the polls, thinking they would be the vanguard of a revolutionary class that would upturn politics. Endorphins ran high and dreams of overturning a corrupt political order were on the minds of these firebrands. However, such optimistic thinking would be dashed once it became clear their efforts would be all for naught.

Within a decade or so they would become jaded by the whole political process. The very politicians they admired would either be assimilated into the establishment Borg or failed to build a viable anti-establishment coalition in government capable of exerting credible political power. The latter point held particularly true with the Ron Paul movement where the former Texas Congressman was quite literally the sole dissenting vote on many of the critical foreign policy and spending issues. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) finds himself on a similar legislative island in the present.

That’s how the cookie crumbles in the Judeo-American Empire. While this vicious cycle is frustrating, it’s quite preventable. One of the uncomfortable truths most people won’t admit is the reason politics remains stagnant is due to the very political behavior they engage in.

They simply don’t have the basics down. They don’t study a politician's behavior — how they vote, what politicians they ally with, who funds them, etc. — and only look at their words. Those who have followed my work in the past 5 years or so will notice my constant praise of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). That’s not just me congratulating him for vapid speeches. I give him his props for his foreign policy restraint, sound money, and gun rights.

Massie has a proven track record of voting against government overreach and putting forward legislation that rolls back state power. Massie walks the walk, which is a breath of air when it comes to politicians, who are notorious for promising the world and talking a big game about shaking up the political system. But when the rubber meets the road, these politicians end up getting assimilated by the very system they rail against. In turn, they co-sign all of the political class’s abuses of the American body politic.

Unfortunately, many people don't do their research on politicians and partake in the typical routine of voting for the “lesser of two evils.” When you have millions of people replicating flawed political strategies, this is a recipe for getting sold out by slimy politicians….for multiple decades on end.

If politicians don’t vote the right way, much less introduce legislation to advance America First legislation, they simply should not be trusted, much less given support at the ballot box. That’s just encouraging bad behavior. At this point, turning towards outright political abstention, at least in elections where there are no good candidates, is a better option. Though this author believes people’s efforts would be better directed towards state, county, and municipal politics. Similarly, I tend to view primary races as effective vehicles for disciplining politicians who go astray.

People in this space will need to take a long, hard look at their political actions. At some point, we must take accountability for our political mishaps. If we can’t admit how our political actions are contributing to our country’s current mess, we will be forever stuck in this predictable cycle of a fleeting euphoria, eventually ending in frustration once we sober up to the stark political reality of a corrupt political order lording over us.

It’s the height of political ineptitude to believe following the same, tired political script ad nauseam will yield different political results this time around. A little bit of political imagination and thinking outside of the box would go a long way in ending the U.S.s political malaise.

NEXT: An America First Defense of Primaries