Oct 2, 2019 By John Lucas 5 min read

“And the word for today or at least this piece; because I’m writing it, is: “SCHISM.”

According to my 2005 edition of “The American Heritage Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus,” the noun means: A separation or division into factions, especially within a religious body.

Back in 1969, the same American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines it as: A separation or division into factions, especially a formal breach of union within a Christian church.

The primary definition, now and fifty years earlier are basically the same. However fifty years earlier there was also a second definition of the word. That being: The OFFENSE of attempting to produce such a split within a church or religious body.

If you were to Google the word, there’s a distinct possibility that it would define it as: a song from the rock band Tool’s 2001 CD “Laterualus.”

They all work for me.

At this very moment, schisms are running rampant within our political discourse. Our new secular religions identified here as: the Church of Conservative Republicans and the Church of Socialist Democrats are obviously divided, factionalized, separate and distinct. They’re supposed to be.

In “Fayette-nam,” there’s a schism within the Church of Conservative Republicans. We have The Republican Party of Fayette County and we have The Fayette County Reagan Republicans.

At long last, the Fayette County Republican Party is adopting Realpolitik into their discourse.

The Fayette County Reagan Republicans have elected to continue to promote the elitist status quo.

Which one works for you? Which one has its finger on the pulse of a disenfranchised electorate and which one continues to ignore “what time it is,” and promotes “what time it isn’t?”

For more than six years I’ve been kicking sacred cows here on the Op-Ed page of the Herald-Standard. I would like to think I do it with sardonic satire and politically incorrect wit, but the fact of the matter is that I’ve tried to interject Realpolitik into the discourse for a very long time. Back in 2015-2016, Donald Trump got hip to it and; correct me if you can, but I say you can’t, “whipped the snot” outta 16 status quo Republicans; including the Bush Dynasty. To the chagrin of the: new leftist progressive Socialist-Democrats, the Clinton Dynasty, too. That’s a pretty big deal. If you can’t see it, it’s because you don’t want to!

Now I’m the kind of guy that likes to keep score to the games I play. Unlike the politically correct, I don’t play games to get a participation trophy. I play them to win. As of the date I’m writing this (9.21.19), the score for This Week’s Question: “Do you think Trump is a better president than Obama,” is Yes-795, No-562 and Unsure-22.

I don’t know what you see, but I see Realpolitik “beating the snot outta” status quo politics here in Fayette-nam. I understand one of the current Republican Commissioners doesn’t really like that name from his radio commercials in the primary. I don’t like approving (with the Democrat Commissioner) a $14,000 Caribbean cruise so a county employee can learn something.

What’s wrong with that picture? What’s that employee gonna learn? Not to drink the water at a port of call in Puerto Rico, or maybe not to drink the booze in a port of call in the Dominican Republic? Doesn’t this employee own a TV? It’s been all over the news, or was that “fake,” too?

You know, if the employee was to drive to Layton, they (I assume the family is going), could rent a canoe from Hazelbakers, cruise the Yough river and save county taxpayers over $13,800 dollars. What’s more relevant to a disenfranchised electorate, taken advantage of by elitists? I might not know what is, but I definitely know what isn’t.

Now I already told you that I keep score. A minority of readers have accused me of being angry and maybe hateful. Admittedly, I hate to get angry, but since I and the rest of you taxpayers are paying for stuff like this, isn’t it understandable?

I’ve had a lot more people I don’t even know come up to me and tell me how much they agree with whatever it is that I might have written. Thank you very much. Someone has to give you the other side and I’m truly flattered that people think I do it.

Last night, someone from the Reagan Republicans commented on a comment of mine on Facebook. I won’t name and embarrass her. She’s doing a fine job on her own. Of course she said she will pray for me, and I genuinely appreciate that. Then she said the Reagan Republicans really don’t want me to show up at one of their functions that require a $25 admission fee. That’s cool with me.

This morning her posting mysteriously disappeared, or I’d give you direct quotes. However she specifically told me (and I have an excellent memory) Reagan Republicans prefer to distance themselves from my “silliness.”

That makes us even, because I prefer to distance myself from their “absurdity.”

John Lucas is a resident of Vanderbilt.