Matt Gaetz, Moron At Large?

 Matt Gaetz is a politician. No one should ever confuse Matt with a public servant or a statesman. Matt exists to serve Matt. He actually does a few things that I like. Matt is good at asking questions that get to the root of problems. He can work complex issues down to simple terms. His problem is that he cannot go from diagnosing the problem to solving the problem. Matt is a politician because his father was a politician. However, a parent doing a job well does not guarantee that their child will be able to do the job. 

In the interest of "full disclosure", Matt represents the 1st District of Florida, where one of my sisters and her husband live. My sister worked for the Okaloosa County school system when Don Gaetz, Matt's father, was the superintendent there. So, the Gaetz family are not complete strangers to me.

Matt hates Kevin McCarthy. I am okay with that; I have hated lots of people with whom I have worked. But the goal is still to accomplish something. Matt talks a lot but accomplishes nothing of value. 

Matt attacked McCarthy for working with Democrats to pass a spending bill to keep the government open. The bill was an extension for 45 days. In my world, that means that you get right to work to get real spending bills put together. I don't care if you have to work nights and weekends, you get those bills put together and passed. It's not enough to just lob the grenade, you then have to take control of the situation you created. Matt's just a bomb thrower.

Matt's district is heavily populated with active-duty military members and retired military members. Did he hold any meetings with these folks to gather their thoughts on a government shutdown? No. Matt was too busy trying to get rid of McCarthy.

Matt wanted McCarthy ousted because McCarthy worked with the Democrats to pass the interim spending bill. Then Matt used the Democrats to oust McCarthy in the "vacate" motion. If it's bad for McCarthy to work with the Democrats, why isn't it bad for Gaetz to work with the Democrats? The level of hypocrisy here is positively breathtaking. Matt only had seven other Republicans vote with him to oust McCarthy. The other 208 votes were from Democrats. So, the guy who believes that he is the most conservative of Republicans could only get the votes of liberal Democrats and seven of his groupies?

As a bomb thrower, Matt doesn't care about the final results. Is he did, he might get involved with trying to produce results. The Republicans have a four (4) vote majority in the House. This is not the stuff of which legends and legendary legislation are made. My mom used to tell us, "You are not going to get everything that you want. Get used to it!" Apparently, Matt's mom failed to pass this wisdom to him.

So, while Matt claims that his goal is to get a budget passed, we squander time on picking a replacement Speaker. In 45 days, who will be the next fall guy for Matt's lack of serious effort? Matt complains that in his seven years in the House, we have never passed a budget. Tell me what Matt has done to combat this. Matt needs to shut up and get to work, today.

In the old days, when both of my sons worked for me at the restaurant, dinners at home were spent talking over issues at the restaurant. My sons were always telling me why I should fire someone or questioning why I had not fired someone. My response was always the same. "I have a lot of long-range plans, but they all involve one simple principle. I have to get through today to get to tomorrow. And I am going to work with whoever I have to and get through today."

Famed pugilist and philosopher Mike Tyson had this advice that Matt can use. "Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth." Get busy on that budget, Matt!!