Typical of many others, one recent poll had generic congressional job approval at a negative 32 points. The reason for 29% of respondents saying otherwise — that this Congress is just peachy keen — is that at least 29% of any survey's respondents are cryptofascistic knuckleheads who also believe Trump has a "plan," Matt Gaetz is a political philosopher who rivals James Madison in brilliance, and the villainy-infested Republican House is a body of true patriots.
Stranger yet, despite the electorate's overwhelming displeasure with this largely GOP-dynamited Congress, the same poll had Democrats leading in the generic congressional vote by only 2%. So voters say Congress stinks, but why not stink it up again by returning the same invidious nihilists to office.
But what of today's consequences? What, for instance, are America's true patriots doing for double-hurricane victims wanting to rebuild their homes and businesses? There's no frivolousness involved in their wants; there are lives and livelihoods at stake. And what are House Republicans doing about it?
Nothing. They're not even in town. Politico: "The nation’s loan program for disaster survivors has fully exhausted its funding, the Biden administration announced Tuesday. And lawmakers, the only ones who can greenlight more funding, are slated to be out until after Election Day."
The "loan program" is the Small Business Administration. It's broke. It "can’t make new loan offers to people trying to rebuild." Sounds urgent, but as Politico reports: "Speaker Mike Johnson has repeatedly said he does not intend to call lawmakers back to town before the scheduled Nov. 12 return."
The water-drenched, roof-collapsed, income-deprived denizens of the U.S. can apply for loans, but the rebuilding process stops there. For the real urgency is that the knuckleheads and nihilists devote the next month to reelection — so that they can return to office and continue providing such superb constituent services.
It's at soul-trying times like this — forgive me, Tom Paine — that the phrase "benevolent dictatorship" has appeal. Barring that, perhaps Guy Fawkes' resurrection.