Scurrae ad sinistram, histriones ad dextram… res publica iacet
Clowns to the left, jokers to the right, the republic lies in ruin
Apr 24, 2025
I’ve had several people send notes asking, “Since you left the republican party, why do you continue to talk about it?”
The simple answer is that I haven’t finished venting my spleen over the 60 years I spent in that godforsaken party. It was bad enough in New York up until 1988 when I moved to Arkansas. New York (upstate) Republicans were really Democrats doing what the Democrats do, but which New York Democrats didn’t. Big “D” in New York was the machine. If you weren’t connected, you were nothing. The only way to tell a Democrat from a mobster is the mobsters drove better cars and had broken noses.
Republicans in New York in those days were RINOs at best, or Democrats in disguise, usually. The vast majority of folks who lived “upstate,” which is the area north of New York city and Albany, were or seemed to be New York transplants who knew they had no chance of running against the Democrat machine as a “D”, so they ran as an “R.” The same thing happens here in Arkansas, only in reverse.
I thought all that would change when I moved to Arkansas. The Republicans were getting stronger here, and were making all the right noises, how they were really for the people and all that other propaganda that corrupt politicians spout. I believed it, and worked for and with the party to make Arkansas red.
Well, it finally worked, and since then it’s become apparent to me that the Republicans are just Democrats in more expensive suits. The local – county – committees have claimed for a long time that the republican ethos still resides in the counties, but that’s no longer true.
Human nature being what it is, people who want to win – and they do – will go with the team that seems stronger. They may claim an epiphany but it’s usually just gas. Their party affiliation may change, but their deeply held beliefs do not. And now in Arkansas we get “Ds” running as “Rs” and all the other mob-like activity that goes along with the old south Democrats.
Allow me to jump down a rabbit hole for a minute, because there’s something I truly don’t understand. To be truthful I think I do understand, but I don’t want to believe the only answer I find to be logically correct.
The question that has me stymied is how can a man be a pastor or a deacon or an elder or just a true believer and also serve as an elected official. That’s not a joke! Remember those Ten Commandments? I believe one of them says lying is bad. Also cheating, and stealing, and bearing false witness – all bad. Bad enough so you get to go to hell for doing these things.
Yet politicians do all of these things as a regular part of their “service.” We see “conservative” politicians who sign on for some of the most progressive bills you can imagine. They’ll take away your freedom to protect their power. They’ll lie to your face, telling you they’re for the people, then vote to prevent you from suggesting changes to the law. They will go to CPAC and claim Arkansas has a “DOGE-like” program when we don’t, then appoint a state DOGE committee and never admit the lie. I could go on forever, however I think the truth is more than adequately supported with these examples alone.
End of rabbit hole, but please note that for the reasons I’ve cited above I don’t trust any politicians. The system is designed to protect itself, and that protection means that the system will break anyone who actually tries to do the right thing. If you don’t follow orders like a good little drone, you will have a primary opponent, none of your bills will get out of committee, and someone, somewhere will start rumors about your lack of ethics and hygiene.
Add to the human frailty and ability to be steered the vipers who slither around the capitol and call themselves lobbyists. The only job a lobbyist has is to affect legislation in a manner that benefits his or her client. So a big (or small for that matter) business hires Beelzebub and Partners LLP to represent their interests to the legislature. How do they do that?
Not with PowerPoint shows, or white papers, or scientific studies, although I’m sure all of them have these things in their tool box just to be able to claim they’re authentic, honest, and above board. The problem is they’re not. Lobbyists are in the business of steering votes, and whatever the lubricant needed to get the vote where their client needs it is what they’ll do.
One businessman who does a lot of business with the State of Arkansas was heard to tell a group of legislators “I can’t vote for you, but you can vote for me.” To whit, if legislators voted business to his ventures, he would take care of them. And he has a pretty big PAC.
So the governor and her minions have a plan, probably inspired by lobbyists, and which does not in any important way help the citizens. It’s a common fact that revolutions devolve to tyranny, and republicans taking over Arkansas was certainly a revolution. It’s devolved to the inept tyranny of Asa Hutchinson, closely followed by the schizophrenic tyranny of Sarah Sanders.
Not only has she allowed whole counties to be removed from the party, along with several folks who were leaders in the grassroots movement, she has also loosed the ignorant dogs who serve in the legislature to harass people who do not toe their line, to threaten to remove more county committees if they don’t straighten up, and, probably best of all, they align themselves with some of the least trustworthy mental midgets in the state, using them as a weapon to destroy the people’s grassroots movement.
So that’s why I keep writing about republicans. I write about democrats too. I have no respect for any of them. I will direct you to my article Changes for solutions and a further discussion of why politics and politicians are a sin (see commandments 6, 8, 9, and of course 10).
Of course your comments are welcome, and if you comment here on Substack, I will probably answer you (be civil, please).
If you like this content, there’s more at Jack’s Substack
Continuity planning, civilian and military
Thank you for your insight. I was a conservative D in my youth and enjoyed what I was doing until the D’s began to leave me. Then for decades I was an O. More recently I changed to an R due to some other responsibilities I picked up. I am not seeking any higher position and serve no political alliance within the party. I am amazed at the corruption that politics has made on many that I would never have imagined. I understand voting in the best interest of your constituents even when they do not understand it. However, when you question officials after the vote and it becomes clear that they did not know up from down in the matter, it becomes clear that they voted politics and not constituents. That was the great theme of this last legislative session. We have gone too far in the wrong direction.
Al, Thanks for your note. The seriousness of these issues is, unfortunately, lost on elected officials. To them, they’re either doing what they want or are doing what they must for the greater good. What they don’t realize is that once you’re compromised, you’re compromised, and we can never trust you again. The shine is lost after the first term, and all that’s left is conformity or erasure. I don’t know if we can resolve the problems without term limits and transparency, two issues that are against what the machine stands for.