Rep. Justin Amash leaves the Republican Party

[lpetrich]

Amash quits Republican Party | TheHill
Trump celebrates after Amash quits GOP: 'Great news for the Republican Party' | TheHill
Ocasio-Cortez: Amash is 'right' to warn of 'partisan death spiral' | TheHill
Justin Amash quits Republican Party - CNNPolitics
Rep. Justin Amash, Citing Partisanship, Quits Republican Party : NPR

(CNN)Rep. Justin Amash, the only congressional Republican who publicly argues that President Donald Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct, announced Thursday he is quitting the GOP.

"Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party," Amash wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday morning. "No matter your circumstance, I'm asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. I'm asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system -- and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it."

From TheHill,

(link #1): The libertarian congressman, who said he's become "disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it," argued that "the two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to American principles and institutions."

(link #3): In the op-ed, Amash wrote that "we are fast approaching the point ... where Congress exists as little more than a formality to legitimize outcomes dictated by the president, the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader."

More from CNN:

"The Republican Party, I believed, stood for limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty -- principles that had made the American Dream possible for my family," he wrote. "In recent years, though, I've become disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it. The two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to American principles and institutions."

He also pointed to George Washington's farewell address, in which the first US President warned Americans of the dangers of partisanship.

"True to Washington's fears, Americans have allowed government officials, under assertions of expediency and party unity, to ignore the most basic tenets of our constitutional order: separation of powers, federalism and the rule of law," Amash said. "The result has been the consolidation of political power and the near disintegration of representative democracy."

However, the Washington Post is paywalled, so I can't read the whole Op-Ed. I also think that it will be a big uphill struggle against Duverger's Law, so the only way that multiparty elections will be practical is to have something like proportional representation.

 

[lpetrich]

From May 18: Justin Amash on Twitter:
"Here are my principal conclusions:
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller's report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report."
/ Twitter
He then left the House Freedom Caucus, which he had founded.

His Op-Ed provoked this response: Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "Great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress is "quitting" the Party. No Collusion, No Obstruction! Knew he couldn't get the nomination to run again in the Great State of Michigan. Already being challenged for his seat. A total loser!" / Twitter

What pettiness. He is not only in his second childhood, he is regressing to infancy.

 

[lpetrich]

Rep. Justin Amash, Sick Of "Partisan Nonsense," Leaves Door Open To Third Party Presidential Campaign In 2020 | Video | RealClearPolitics

"I've had concerns with the Republican Party for several years," he said. "I've had concerns with the party system generally."

"It’s a problem for the Republican Party, it’s a problem for the Democratic Party when people aren’t allowed to speak out. I think we really need the American people to say, enough is enough, we’ve had it with these two parties trying to ram their partisan nonsense down our throats."

He then described how he tried to work within the system, and how he failed.

Mitt Romney: GOP Rep. Justin Amash Is "Courageous" To Call For Trump Impeachment | Video | RealClearPolitics
Although MR was "troubled" by what he found in the Mueller Report, he nevertheless thought that impeachment was not the right way to go.

 

[lpetrich]

Justin Amash resigns from House committee after dumping GOP - POLITICO

Newly declared independent Rep. Justin Amash has formally left the GOP Conference and resigned from the House Oversight Committee, according to a letter he sent to Republican leaders on Monday.

"Please accept this letter as formal notification that I am withdrawing my membership in the House Republican Conference, effective immediately, for the reasons outlined in my accompanying op-ed," the Michigan lawmaker wrote.

...
Amash still plans to run as an independent to represent his Grand Rapids-area district, where he would have faced at least four primary challengers who were eager to pounce on Amash for his act of defiance against Trump and the party. His decision to leave the GOP, which Amash said he was considering even before former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was released, now clears the way for the House GOP’s campaign arm to get involved in the Republican primary.

Seems like that could help the Democratic candidate win, because he and the Republican candidate will likely split the votes of Republican-leaning voters.

Amash has long been a lone wolf in the GOP. The 39-year-old former lawyer rode the 2010 tea party wave to Congress, where the libertarian and fiscal conservative has built a political brand as being a thorn in the side of leadership. He even once lost a coveted seat on the House Budget Committee for bucking Republicans.

But Amash’s call to impeach Trump was a bridge too far for many of his GOP colleagues. Amash ended up quitting the House Freedom Caucus, a group he helped found, after members of the hard-line group condemned him in May.

Because he wasn't a loyal Trumpie, it seems.