The boy blunder of the GOP

In twenty years or so, the National Enquirer or some other grocery store tabloid will run the “Whatever happened to Madison Cawthorn?” story with a photo of a bloated, unrecognizable man on a motorized grocery cart in front of a burned out trailer. For now, though, we have Congressman Madison Cawthorn, Boy Blunder of the GOP.

Cawthorn is just the latest version of Lonesome Rhodes, a man who lucked into fame and is in love with the sound of his own voice and the sound of applause. He’s confused notoriety with power, believing the people cheering him on give him some sort of authority. And he’s bored with the mundane duties of governing and serving in Congress.

Instead, he’s skipped town and is taking his show on the road. His district might be recovering from a devastating flood, but Cawthorn is heading to Johnston County to harass a school board making tough decisions about the welfare its students. Cawthorn is the headliner of an anti-mask protest that includes a Tennessee Congressional candidate who takes fashion tips from Eddie Munster.

 The protest is organized by two organizations called Johnston County Public School Parents for Freedom and Citizen Advocates for Accountable Government. The groups claim to represent a majority of parents in Johnston County but offer no evidence to support their claim. They also ask for members of the school board to resign if the board doesn’t acquiesce to their demands. In other words, they’re another anti-democracy group demanding elected officials bend to the mob rule that so many Republicans claim to despise.

Last I checked, Johnston County was a solidly Republican County so I suspect most of the school board members are Republicans, too. So where is the local and state GOP? Are they going to stand up for local elected officials doing a tough job in a tough time or are they going to cower as bullies from Washington and other states threaten and berate the school board? And where’s the guy who’s supposed to represent Johnston County in Congress? Is Rep. David Rouzer going to let another Member of Congress make trouble is his district without a peep?

 Cawthorn could care less about the people of Johnston County. He probably couldn’t find Smithfield on a map. He just cares about the adulation and cheers from the numb nuts in the anti-masker movement. In August, Cawthorn got applause for berating school board members and disrupting a Buncombe County school board meeting that was later taken over by a clown car of protesters. Now, he’s trying to get the same response in Johnston County to quench his bottomless need for attention.

Somebody in Smithfield should organize a counter protest that stands up for local control and against the Big Government bullies descending on Johnston County next week. Tell Madison Cawthorn to take care of his own district and leave Johnston County to the people who live there. They should demand that Congressman Rouzer stand with his constituents against the outside agitators. And they should thank the members of school board for their service, whether they agree with their decisions or not. It’s time to fight for democracy against the intellectually-challenged authoritarian thugs like Madison Cawthorn.