Elections Attract The Worst Kind

I like to think that people enter into politics with the best of intentions. But, with every new election cycle, a new crop of political goof-ups emerges from both sides of the aisle. Even this early on, this election cycle is no exception.

Last week, Democrat Abbie Broyles, a candidate for Congress out of Oklahoma for the seat currently occupied by Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Ohio, had to apologize for some really messed-up behavior towards some young girls at a family sleepover. Parents of the pre-teen girls detailed how a drunken Broyles accosted the young girls with a profane — and slightly racist — tirade.

Broyles later apologized in a television interview, blaming her unacceptable behavior on a combination of sleep medication and wine.

Drunken, inappropriate behavior? Sounds like she’d fit right in at Congress.

Too bad she didn’t follow up her public apology with any personal apology to the traumatized families. Broyles’ performative mea culpa was more about political window dressing than it was true contrition. She seems to be the type of politician who believes that maintaining political image is more important than personal responsibility.

Then, this week, Republican Martin Hyde, a candidate for Congress out of Florida for the seat currently occupied by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., had a Karen-esque run-in with the law.

A police officer in Sarasota pulled Hyde over for speeding and texting while driving. Body camera footage showed Hyde threatening the officer in a classic “Don’t you know who I am?” sort of way.

“I’ll call your chief,” said Hyde as the officer continued doing her job. Hyde was all kinds of rude. He even questioned the officer’s immigration status, of all things. Yes, he too had a tinge of racism in his meltdown.

Ironically, despite his attempt to cancel an officer of the law, Hyde’s campaign website hypocritically declares that “[c]ancel culture needs to be canceled.”

Hyde’s entitlement complex is common among political wannabes. Hyde and his ilk think that the rules that we all follow don’t apply to him. No good can come of someone this reckless gaining political power. Perhaps this is why our political class has become loathsome to us little people; we must play by rules they flagrantly disregard.

It seems like we live in an endless cycle of politicians behaving badly. In addition to these two incidents, news broke in the past few weeks of a Democratic state representative from New Mexico who got booked after blowing a .17 blood alcohol level during a testy field sobriety check, and a Republican congressman from Texas dropping his re-election bid after his affair with a former “ISIS bride.” Yes, political buffoonery is a problem on both sides of the aisle.

Broyles, Hyde and the others are no longer the exception in politics, but the rule. As much as I’d like to point the finger of blame at them, the real fault for the proliferation of political buffoonery is all of us. We have become a silly, frivolous people.

Instead of properly vetting candidates based on qualifications, we ignore merit in favor of partisan tribalism, or fall into a cult of personality. Or, we ignore politics altogether and hope it all works out.

We rarely vote anyone out of office, allowing odious office holders to linger until they become malignant. And then, after a scandal, or a perp walk, or some other ouster from office, we repeat the cycle anew with a different crop of them, expecting something to be different. It’s the definition of insanity.

The best way to keep these types from the halls of government is for voters to be the bouncers at the door. If we expect our politics to get better, then we need to get better.