Ever since Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) announced his retirement at the end of his current term, I’ve been slightly bugged by it. It wasn’t the implied hypocrisy, which comes from calling for a return to norms while still voting with Trump on hastily constructed legislation and judicial nominees; and I certainly won’t miss him because of that hypocrisy, although his opposition to the candidacy of Roy Moore for the Alabama Senate seat a few months ago, as well as criticizing Trump during his retirement speech, was memorable.
I knew the source of the irritation, but I hadn’t really felt like addressing it, although I had very briefly mentioned it in the previous post on this thread.
Then this announcement of someone running to replace him popped out:
On Tuesday, Arpaio announced he would seek the Arizona Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. Arpaio enters a crowded Republican field and is likely to face a barrage of attacks from Democrats and civil rights groups, who are sure to note in campaign advertisements how the policing practices he championed have led to dozens of lawsuits. [Los Angeles Times]
A convicted felon, pardoned by President Trump, an arrogant scoundrel or bigot (whichever he prefers), thinks he can take that seat? And, yet, I’m not sure he’s the worst of the bunch. Ever heard of former Arizona State Senator Kelli Ward (R)? The moment Arizona Senator McCain announced his brain cancer diagnosis, she suggested that the Arizona governor should appoint herself to fill the term. Then, from her previous campaign against Senator McCain:
Yesterday on “The John Fredericks Show,” Arizona Republican state Sen. Kelli Ward, who is challenging Sen. John McCain in the state’s GOP primary, claimed that the American government has “armed ISIS” and used over $1 billion to train and provide resources to the extremist group. [Right Wing Watch]
So a right-wing extremist OR a power-hungry “I’ll say anything to get elected” type. Her choice.
But from Flake’s announcement of his retirement:
It is clear at this moment that a traditional conservative who believes in limited government and free markets, who is devoted to free trade, and who is pro-immigration, has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican party — the party that for so long has defined itself by belief in those things. It is also clear to me for the moment we have given in or given up on those core principles in favor of the more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment. To be clear, the anger and resentment that the people feel at the royal mess we have created are justified. But anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy. [CNN]
And is it only the prospect of victory which justifies the fight, Senator Flake? Your party, your seat in Congress, is threatened with far-right extremists who espouse philosophies inimical to a healthy society. Extremists whose demonstrable wish is to bring down those non-partisan institutions of society, because their findings do not support the extremists’ positions. Extremists whose philosophies are based on theories of humanity long-rejected, with little to no theoretical support – except in the eyes of those whose view of humanity is tainted and not shared by the mainstream.
By stepping out of this fight, you give the reasonable, moderate conservative one less choice, and discourage them from your party. By leaving the high ground to the extremist, you cede any voice of moral authority. And by permitting yourself to be chased away by a President who is not, and never has been, moved by principle or common moral justification, but merely by personal pique and avarice, you tell those who might otherwise follow you that the best principle is to bow down to the bully, to crawl on your belly in response to a President who, frankly, deserves not the office he occupies.
Certainly, you might lose that fight in the primary. But by fighting in the best way possible, rather than the worst, you remind your Party in Arizona of how an honorable politician stands forth for his principles – by putting forth principles you think are good and just, and not descending to the ad hominem that currently is worn as a proud cloak by your extremist brethren.
And, hey, if Ms Ward chooses to accuse you of being an ISIS benefactor, it’s your chance to strike, and strike hard: laugh her out of the room, ridicule her out of the race. Tell her you wouldn’t dream of accusing her of the same, nor any opponent, because you’re better than her. Tell her she’s nothing more than a swamp-dwelling crocodile.
And let Arpaio sag his jaw to the ground, and creep away.
