Andy Harris Is a Boob

The algorithm should be our slave, not our master

There’s so much anger locally, I don’t see the need to import more.

I had something of a tiff with my wife this week over Lorna Boebert or whatever her name is. I honestly only hear Lorena Bobbit in my head when I try to recall it, but I’m not looking her up. That’s part of what the fight was about. With the possible exception of state representatives, there is no lower political scum on planet Earth than a member of the lower house. These are remora trading on the goodwill of their neighbors.

Not only can’t they tell the difference between their whims and the public good, they are stupid and arrogant enough to believe they’re the same thing. We let them be that way because of our clannish self-centeredness, but this isn’t about that.

I don’t love living in Delmar or on the Eastern Shore, but I could never muster the level of contempt for my fellow citizens it takes to hold public office here (not that anyone in their right mind would ask me to run or vote for me).

Nothing violates what it means to be human more than betrayal and duplicity that is the oil running our political machine. Political corruption isn’t just expected, it’s praised. The better you are at enriching yourself to your constituents’ detriment, the more likely they are to support you.

It’s always existed, but politicians used to pretend it didn’t, going through the motions of moral and fiscal rectitude. They don’t have to anymore. All they need is the party affiliation that matches up with how their neighbors think they have to vote.

They are stupid and lazy. We made them that way. It’s hard to blame them for taking advantage in the same way that it’s hard to blame a pedophile for accepting a job as a youth pastor.

I’ve lost track since leaving social media, but I know there are two profoundly stupid women who get a ton of coverage. One is Boebert and the other one is either blonde or brown-haired. It does not matter. They’re poorly drawn archetypes. Plus, they are not my representatives. My representative is Andy Harris, a prodigious hypocrite and coward who almost certainly will die of old age in office.

Frank Kratovil (another prodigious hypocrite and coward) put him there. He’s a single-term Democrat who rode Obama’s coattails into office and spent the next two years promising to undermine him. He also carved out time arranging for a post-congressional judgeship to go with his congressional pension, but let’s not get started on that.

We let them treat us with contempt, so we can’t complain.

Kratovil ran as a “blue-dog” Democrat. They used to be called “Dixiecrats” and before that “Yellow-Dog Democrats.” Yellow-Dog Democrats were so-called because they swore they would vote for a yellow dog before voting for a Republican after Lincoln freed the slaves.

So it was appropriate that this Kratovil fool went around bragging how he wouldn’t listen to a Black man long enough to fill his pockets and arrange a cozy judgeship.

I covered Kratovil’s victory lap through the Eastern Shore. The event that stands out the most was in Ocean Pines, where blue-haired wealthy liberal women swooned at the thought of being in the same room with a man who had been in the same room as Obama. I thought it was sweet, seeing them so star-struck. When Kratovil devoted most of the conversation to explaining how he wouldn’t let the president push him around, it felt tone-deaf.

In retrospect, it was code. The president would have his constituency’s admiration but not his support.

I don’t know how much time the tiny, aryan wet dream spent with the NAACP, but it was probably long enough to secure the first congressional district for the Republican party in perpetuity.

For his part, Harris had the seat purchased for him by Tea Party lunatics who ran a smear campaign against a multiple-term centrist Republican congressman that was so vicious the man got out of politics. Harris is an impotent nothing, and everyone likes him that way, particularly petty Eastern Shore kingmakers.

Harris only lost to Kratovil because of the record turnout among Blacks. Kratovil put an end to that, and, in the next election, Harris put an end to him.

That’s a long way of saying that both the Democrats and the Republicans are happy to have a non-competitive district where the Black vote can be ignored. That way they can focus their money and attention on the real donation earners like Boebert. There’s no telling how much she’s enriched not only herself but whatever strawman mook is shilling for the Democrats wherever she’s a representative.

The reason my wife and I had our little tiff is that I cannot stand how insufferably gullible liberals have become. Boebert had either said or done something stupid because she is a stupid person, because only stupid people are professional politicians.

In the “old” days, people too inept to run their family business got into politics. Today, people who are too incompetent to work at Target merely have to open a campaign bank account and say something mean about Trans people to launch their lucrative political careers. And liberals love giving them the attention to make it all happen.

So when my poor wife mentioned whatever Boebert said, I got testy and fired back that she was ensuring Boebert’s reelection.

If you can’t vote for a person, it shouldn’t matter what they say. When we feed the outrage machine, we enrich people whose hatred for us (regardless of party) only is exceeded by their personal greed and moral bankruptcy.

We’re all aware of THE ALGORITHM, but sometimes I worry we forget it doesn’t get capitalized. The algorithm should be our slave, not our master, but when we choose to elevate the inane, we’re voting for more of it. If Boebert gets eyes, Boebert gets cash. If you can’t vote for her, she hates you beyond the requisite congressional representative contempt.

Knowing about any of these morons impoverishes you while enriching them. In a world where we feel increasingly powerless over the way things are, let me assure you from personal experience that there’s more than a little satisfaction in not clicking on an outrage headline.

It isn’t easy, but it’s probably important. There is SO MUCH to know about our world and about our culture and I promise you, none of it has to do with a politician you can’t vote for.

Keep the Faith,

Tony

Postscript

I mentioned that I’ve left Twitter, practically, but that I still share everything I write there. Recently, one of my reviews came to the author’s attention and he gave me some props. I wanted to share it here because it’s flattering but also because it’s right.

By the end of the first chapter of The Midnight Kingdom by Jared Yates Sexton, I had both a sense of where the book would go and a desperate hope about the way it would get there. It did not disappoint.

The subtitle of every socially conscious book ought to be: “How They Keep Us Squabbling.”

I’d like to take a second to re-invite you to join the chat. Comments on this page are fine but there are other things I write about in chat. This week I’ve been collecting thoughts about a big religion essay that’s been kicking around in my head.

Finally, I’ve mentioned how grateful I am that you subscribe to this and I want to assure you that that’s plenty.

But.

Since I keep getting paid subscribers, I felt like I ought to thank them specially for adding monetary support to the regular dose of moral support I get when you read my mail.

I’ve written them weekly updates about my works in progress and some day job stuff as well. This week I wrote about unhinged Catholics lobbying for burial law changes.

Finally, Notes came out after I wrote this, I’ll have an update as part of a special Friday post.

TR