It’s not a pretty story. McCarthy proved that Speakers can’t last if they try to please only a few (8 — the hard-right minority of the Republicans’ narrow majority) at the expense of everyone else, Republican or Democrat.
More important, our government is at risk. The collapse of McCarthy makes the shutdown more likely. And shutdown may seriously risk aid to Ukraine as well as the all-important Farm Bill (now expired). In the big picture, Ukraine is even more important than the Farm Bill for rural Americans since 44% of the American military comes from rural America, and one-third of this 44% is comprised of the National Guard. The U.S. joining 55 other democracies across the Western World to send aid to Ukraine as Ukrainians fight to defend their democracy accomplishes two things:
- The allied front of Western Nations sends a strong message to the governments of “strong men,” dictators, and the oligarch leaders who continually try to take over Western countries and
- For rural America, our investment in Ukraine saves our sons and daughters in the military from being called up and having to go to war. We’re only 17% of our country, but our sons and daughters shoulder almost half of our military’s effort to keep us all safe.
Make no mistake about it. If Putin gets his way, he will take another country and another — just like Hitler did, and should we stand back, we help Putin work his way to WWIII when we will be forced to take action.