Nobody goes to Washington completely selfless. Oh sure, everyone loves to talk about how they want to be a service to the people. Some will put on the humble pie act. Others will speak longingly about how they want to do the people’s business and make the lives of their constituents better. I’m sure a large part of them actually believes that.

At some point, they realize they have to gain more power to do the things they want to do. There are multiple ways to do this. The less ambitious bide their time. They actually work day to day for their constituents. They figure it will get them reelected and with every passing election they will gain more power. Such thoughts are so quaint.

A second kind comes in with big ideas. They gain notoriety quickly with those big ideas and it can be somewhat difficult to distinguish them from the glory hounds. Obviously, most people immediately think of AOC, but Bernie Sanders fits under that category as well. They usually don’t get what they want but they help steer the conversation in a productive way.

Then, there are the Thomas Massie’s of the world. John Pavlovitz already covered serious ground on the picture above. I’ve enjoyed his writing for some time, but I suspect he knows he has been used in this instance. Underneath the picture read the caption, “Santa, please bring ammo.” I suppose Massie could love his guns that much, but I suspect that John knows perfectly well that a love of guns wasn’t the point of this Christmas card.

This picture was about performative politics. It was about the fact that Matt Gaetz, Majorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert are getting all the headlines. How do you get yourself in there? Well, you take a picture days after a school shooting with timing so crass you can’t help but get your fifteen minutes of fame. Or should we say infamy? As Martin Short’s character in the Three Amigos said, “infamous means more than famous.” Well, Massie certainly qualifies. Except he’s bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. Greene, Gaetz, and Boebert are pros at this. They’ve made a living of getting people to know who they are without actually accomplishing anything.

That’s the difference between performative politics and what people like AOC do. They become famous and powerful and yet no one can name a single thing they’ve actually done or actually proposed. The idea is to own the liberals. Massie certainly won this round. He’s provoked outrage. He’s inspired a number of writers to condemn his stupidity. He’s dumb, but he’s not so dumb.

Growing up in Texas with two native Texans as parents has given me a wealth of old home sayings to fall back on in times like this. I find myself using them in class all the time and the students always snicker. I’m usually not sure if it is an age thing or a regional dialect thing. However, the phrase, “the pot calling the kettle black” just seems to be ringing in my ear.

Majorie Taylor Greene wants Maxine Waters expelled from Congress. God bless her heart. There are just some people that have been blessed without self-awareness. Greene is lucky to be in Congress and hopefully the good people of her state will get rid of her at the first opportunity. The House certainly could have expelled her and if they weren’t so divided between Q and progressive they probably would have.

At the heart of it all are supposed comments that Waters has made and a mistaken belief by many in this country. Greene cited that Waters is “inciting riots and Black Lives Matters terrorism.” Except, Black Lives Matter aren’t terrorists. Certainly, you don’t have to like them or their methods, but anyone calling them terrorists is obviously off their rocker. Of course, that’s no surprise when it comes to Greene.

As I write this, there has been no verdict in the Chauvin murder case. Yet, one cannot deny that this is one of those moments where we get to define our soul as a nation. Either we are for equal justice under the law or we aren’t. We are either for holding everyone accountable for their actions or we aren’t. While the verdict may or may not reflect our personal values, it is a moment that will take the temperature of the country at large.

The Rodney King event and subsequent trial happened when I was a teenager. I remember those same excuses then as we hear now. He was high. He was a criminal. He was dangerous. Heck, he didn’t die. Bones mend and bruises heal. He should consider himself lucky. One can only imagine the rage of hearing many of those same things 30 years later. One can only imagine the rage of seeing a country make almost no meaningful improvements in race relations with the police. Maybe those of us that want to judge that rage (MTG) can take a step back and try to understand where it is coming from. At least then we can save our own souls even if the collective one might be too far gone.