There is an entire real world thing going on while the theater of politics goes on in Washington. The events of this week saw the House of Representatives vote on expelling George Santos. Fortunately for him, the vote failed. The vote failed largely because there was a block of Democrats that voted against the measure. Even if it had succeeded I am sure he would have busted out the “well, my name is not George Santos. It is actually Jethro Simpson so I can stay as long as I want.”

The idea is that since he has not been convicted of anything or levied a successful ethics penalty in the House of Representatives then voting for his removal would be a dangerous precedent. That kind of thinking has the added benefit of foresight and willful blindness all at the same time. Yes, such a move could be used in the future to expel a member that should not be expelled. However, I don’t think a single person would come out and vouch for this guy whatever his name may be.

If you were to shoot the 30+ Democrats would truth serum I am sure a part of them wanted to keep Santos around. Santos is a living, breathing reminder of the GOP’s slide into moral bankruptcy. You can fund raise off of that. You can easily defeat him as over 70 percent of Republicans in his district want him to resign. Resignation would be a rare sign of propriety for someone that we can’t even credibly name at this point. If he were to resign now you could get a fresh Republican on the ballot and possibly retain the seat. Obstinance is a pure act of selfishness on Santos’ part. Of course, he has gotten through life with a kind of bluster that conmen frequently exhibit. Maybe he just assumes it will all work out as it always has.

The whole spectacle points to two very troubling issues in our politics. In the short term, we are incapable of governing when so many people within our government or morally and intellectually useless. We have a government shutdown looming mid-month. We have crises in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe. We have the economy, environment, and so many other alarming situations brewing and we can’t even get the mechanisms of government to function.

The wider or more troubling issue is the nature of our elections themselves. No, this isn’t about voter fraud. That’s yet another made up issue to get the rubes riled up over phantoms of the opera. The issue is who these people are voting for. It’s one thing to vote for an idiot like Tommy Tuberville. That is alarming by itself, but when you have people like Santos and Lauren Boebert that can’t even perform the basic tasks of a member of Congress you have to wonder what in the hell people are looking at.

There is a very troubling undercurrent happening when you are telling voters we have to immediately expel the person YOU just voted for. You are essentially saying that they were never fit in the first place. Well, that brings two immediate questions to the forefront. First, how in the holy hell did they get on the ballot? Secondly, once they are there shouldn’t a majority of the people be able to identify a crook or half-wit when they see one?

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the first election that I ever voted in. It was the election where I was introduced to Lena Guerrero. She had a promising political career for awhile. She served in the Texas Legislature and had been on the Texas Railroad Commission. She was now running to be the head of the Texas Railroad Commission. It’s not an insignificant position. It involves a whole lot more than just trains. She was a Democrat and therefore seemed destined to get my vote.

Unfortunately for her, the news dropped before the election. She said she had a honors degree from the University of Texas. In fact, she had no degree at all. It would be the only race where I explicitly voted against a Democrat. The funny thing is that this is still true to this day. I don’t know what makes people do these things. It’s not like she simply said she had a degree. She could have listed any institution or none at all. She could have simply said she had a degree and left the rest of the details purposefully vague. Nope. She had to say it was a degree and a degree with honors from the University of Texas.

As everyone knows, George Santos is the latest to get caught up in a web of lies. Of course, to call it a web would likely be generous. His lies haven’t even been all that coordinated. The explanations haven’t been that coordinated either. He didn’t get a degree when he said he did. His background in terms of ethnicity and religion has been either falsified out of thin air or tremendously exaggerated. His work history was also falsified. Even the details of his personal life are a work of fiction. His mother died twice. As works of fiction go, his lies have been whoppers.

I mention Guerrero for what should be obvious reasons. She was a Democrat. She lied about her education. She had attended UT. She just didn’t graduate. She not only lost the election, but she never participated in politics again. It is easy to make the point that one party lies more than the other. Maybe that’s even true, but that’s not the point of this particular screed.

The people that represent us in city hall, county court, the state legislature, state offices, and in Washington should be the best among us. They should be made from the finest parts of our national character. It isn’t necessarily about degrees, past positions, or anything else. We should be able to trust that whatever is on that resume is something you’ve actually done. We should be able to trust that what you say you know and what you say you are good at you are actually good at.

George Santos perpetuated a fraud on the people of his district. Nothing substantive that he has told the voters about himself has turned out to be true. Now, maybe he still wins. We know full well that most voters pull the lever (figuratively) for the party and not the individual. Yet, occasionally something so shameful occurs that people don’t. I didn’t vote for Lena Guerrero and I still wouldn’t.

It isn’t simple enough to simply redo the election. Sure, voters probably would vote differently now that they know the truth, but that sets up a dangerous precedent. When exactly do we know that a fraud has occurred and that it is so egregious that another election should be held? Who decides that? Sure, Kevin McCarthy and the GOP shouldn’t seat him. Yet, they have a very narrow majority and losing even one seat is a bitter pill to swallow. I don’t know the answer for them. I know the status quo is untenable. Maybe they simply don’t give him any committee assignments. The likely result is they just hope we forget. I’ve never forgotten Lena Guerrero. I’m not likely to forget George Santos anytime soon.