Joseph Sabino Mistick: Bar fights holding Republicans back from helping America

The philosopher George Santayana captured the essence of bar fights when he wrote, “… if men have nothing else to fight over they will fight over words, fancies or women, or they will fight because they dislike each other’s looks, or because they have met walking in opposite directions.”

But Santayana did not envision what we saw in the U.S. Capitol last week, as Republican lawmakers’ frustrations from their inability to govern — to pass any meaningful legislation — led to “beer muscles” behavior in the nation’s legislative halls, where we expect and deserve better.

According to Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, he was “shoved” by California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, as Burchett was being interviewed by an NPR reporter in the Capitol on Tuesday. Burchett, who had voted to oust McCarthy as speaker in October, said, “I got elbowed in the back and it kind of caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys.”

McCarthy gave a typical bully’s denial. “If I hit somebody, they would know it,” he said. “If I kidney-­punched someone, they would be on the ground.” That’s the former speaker of the House.

On the same day, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin offered to fight a witness before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Mullin challenged Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, only backing down after he was scolded by 82-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committee chairman.

“Sit down!” Sanders said, “You’re a United States senator!”

In an interview the next day, Mullin said, “Every now and then, you need to get punched in the face.” In another interview, he added, “By the way, I’m not afraid of biting. I’ll bite 100%. In a fight, I’m going to bite. I’ll do anything. I’m not above it. And I don’t care where I bite, by the way.”

Don’t get me wrong — bar fights have their place. Since the beginning of time, some version of bar fights have effectively settled petty disputes and personal slights, and the combatants often settle their business and then buy each other a beer. But serious government most often requires reflection and debate.

After the Jan. 6 insurrectionists’ attack, McCarthy and Mullin may feel free to behave like they are in a bar. They may be emboldened by the thuggish talk of their party leader and presidential frontrunner, who calls his rivals “vermin” and vows to get “revenge and retribution.”

Amid this self-indulgent silliness, there is still very serious national business to be done, and the Republicans have failed to pass anything meaningful on their own, even struggling to find a speaker who can lead them. And we need them to help.

The Middle East could explode into a world war. The Ukrainians continue to fight for freedom from their Russian invaders. Our economy is struggling to adjust to post-pandemic realities. And there is a presidential election coming soon that will determine the future of the republic.

The day after the McCarthy and Mullin chest-pounding, Freedom Caucus member and Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy laid into his Republican colleagues for failing to advance his group’s right-wing agenda.

Roy took the House floor and said, “One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing — one — that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” He called on them to “explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides, well, ‘I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats.’ ”