On Amash leaving the GOP

Let's start with the Washington Post op-ed in which he announces it. It strikes all the notes I'd want him to strike in such a piece. He's not wrong about modern partisan politics being in a death spiral. I'm pleased that he notes that the reason a lot of people have opted to focus on their personal lives to the near-exclusion of the mortal ideological combat that consumes the oxygen in Washington, in the media and on the Internet is its toxicity, but I'm also pleased that he then says that those concerned about reviving this nation cannot abandon the arena of engagement.

I will say that his call for impeachment a few weeks ago seems ill-advised. I'm not here going to rehash the LITD position on Donald Trump, but the president's ample shortcomings don't rise to the level of impeachable offenses.

I classify that as a quirky move in a career otherwise exhibiting a fealty to principle I yearn to see more of. I was on his side when John Boehner removed him from the House Budget Committee. That it takes courage to stand for cutting spending and making even tepid attempts to address the national debt is a sad commentary on the Congresses of the past several - well, decades, but courage he did indeed demonstrate.

I suppose the logical next move is a run for president as either an independent or a Libertarian. He can't win, of course, but it would give me someone to vote for that would allow the eternal record book to show, as it shows for what I did in the voting booth in 2016, that I did not press the button for either an America-common-sense-decency-and-dignity-hating socialist or a bombastic narcissist.

It's some kind of reassurance to know that whatever fate befalls Amash politically, he will be around in some capacity as a voice for liberty. He's much needed.