Celebrate Your Independence
And enjoy some personal sovereignty
I am an independent voter. When I registered to vote in 1994, I chose to be a Republican—thanks in large part to a larger-than-life high school history teacher. But I didn’t always vote Republican, as the Grand Old Party evolved, I found myself misaligned. After the election of 2024, I finally changed my registration to Independent. If a moderate, socially liberal Republican ever runs again, I might vote for them.
It seems all the independent thinkers in the Republican party have been driven out of town or beaten into submission by MAGA.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, July 3rd, it appeared as if the president’s sweeping domestic policy bill would fail, thanks to a handful of Republicans who either voted against the bill, or chose to abstain. By late afternoon, Speaker Mike Johnson managed to get all but two of the misfits to fall in line.
Representative Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said:
When we say the Republican Party has turned into a cult, this is what we mean. Our Republican colleagues are pushing a bill that would throw their constituents under the bus, a bill that flies in the face of everything they claim to stand for, all because Donald Trump wants a bill signing photo-op by the Fourth of July.
In fairness, Democrats often vote as a unified bloc as well—but in the case of the president’s spending bill, Republicans from both the conservative and moderate sides of the caucus had spoken out against it. I assume their fear of facing the wrath of MAGA forced them into submission.
Resistance to authoritarianism should be a non-partisan effort. I’ve written that we need to be active and support Democratic politicians, but that’s only because it seems Democrats are the only ones who will stand up to the president, as Thursday’s vote demonstrates.
Instead of talking about supporting Democratic politicians, I should be talking about supporting non-MAGA politicians—anyone at all who is willing to resist the president’s tyrannical tendencies. We need independent thinkers, unafraid to break with their party and vote according to their consciences.
In the spirit of Independence Day, I thought it was worth mentioning the two Republican representatives who voted against the bill. Thomas Massis of Kentucky refused to support the bill because of the massive budget deficits it would cause. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania couldn’t allow the deep Medicaid cuts to hurt his constituents.
Shamefully, Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, who has decided to retire from Congress rather than “be the guy who follows the flute player off the cliff,” ultimately voted in favor of the bill and followed the flute player after all.
On this Fourth of July, enjoy your freedom, partake in some personal sovereignty, and celebrate your independence.
Oh, and share this post with a like-minded friend. : )
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In keeping with the historical nature of the day, there's another term besides the 'c' word that the founders would likely apply to our current situation, we are seeing the 'mischiefs of faction' in the words of James Madison in Federalist No. 10.
He went on to say: "By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community....
In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government. And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of Federalists."
Now, to address a structural reason why Republicans aren't performing very well in a republican form of government, I would reference a much older text than even the Federalist Papers - the Bible - specifically the Tower of Babel. The founders envisioned the Republic's structure of separated national government which is also a coalition of states with separation of powers and then local governments.
There has been a rapid arc of nationalization of issues corresponding with the 'democratization' of media since the advent of near-universal internet access. This breaks down geographic and government barriers that would keep 'passionate' factions from spreading, but also, and worse, created it's own silos - just with instant, rapid spread of thought between them. It's further worsened by the virtual death of local news, which is challenging the old maxim that all politics is local. The 'c' word challenges another, newer maxim - 'it's the economy stupid', but nationalization and compartmentalization is almost more dangerous.
I caution people to not assume the worst about the remaining 'MAGA' believers simply because Americans do not see the same factual reality, and very few people have anywhere near the personal bandwidth to keep up with multiple sources to correlate factuality like anyone who reads this does, so if you have kids, and a full time job, the outrageous during the rapid of ascent of full blown fascism may have completely gone unnoticed if you're limited to one or two sources of news.
I would encourage anyone to read all of the Federalist Papers, but especially No. 10 on this 249th, and possibly final, legitimate Independence Day.