Keeping it real isn’t easy, but keep it real is what a bitch does…

Shall we?

Yesterday my State Senator Jeff Smith resigned from office and pled guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

I voted for Jeff Smith because he ran as a progressive and my State Senate district is progressive as hell and needs to be represented as such in the Missouri Senate.

I’ve met Smith, but we aren’t friends.

He was my State Senator.

I was his constituent.

As such, I am pretty damned pissed off.

And as a practitioner of the fine art of bitchitude, a bitch simply cannot pull a punch because the felon under discussion has a D next to his name.

The Missouri House and Senate are dominated by Republicans, so I need the Democrats I work to get elected to work double time in defense of progressive policy while there.

I do not vote for people because I like them…or because we’re tight…or because they kind of remind me of a short RFK.

I vote for people because state policy impacts my life and the lives of people I love.

I voted for Jeff Smith to be a progressive voice defending and representing his constituents against the constant attacks against reproductive choice, LGBT equality rights, protections against discrimination and knowledge-based education.

Smith, by conspiring to lie to federal investigators over some shit associated with his 2004 campaign, brought the wrath of those investigators down upon more than just his lauded political career.

He brought that shit down on all of his constituents…we who will now face a special election in November and a new State Senator come next session…we who needed that progressive voice and now must hope that a progressive emerges from committee.

Oh hell yes, a bitch is angry.

I’m mad as hell.

I deserve better, damnit.

My fellow residents of the 4th Senate district deserve better too.

Not talking about that or trying to dress it up as youthful stupidity serves no one and damn sure doesn’t serve the next progressive youngin’ pondering public office.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

This happening brings me no joy.

I do not relish this moment or the political uncertainty my senate district now faces.

But this shit happened...to me and mine, not just Jeff Smith or Rep. Brown or the other player and/or players in this pathetic mess.

Yesterday my State Senator Jeff Smith resigned from office and pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

We must acknowledge that for what it is…lay it out, painful as it is, and learn from it.

Lest we open ourselves up to the same kind of criticism we so often toss out to the right.

Lest we become what we despise…