Well, howdy there internet people, it's Belligan. So today we're going to talk about parts of the House

GOP, partisan indexes, and an explanation of what seems to be unexplainable behavior.

After the recent video about the House GOP and the budget,

a few questions came in, wondering why certain elements within the Republican Party

seem to be doing things that hurt the political

prospects of other House Republicans.

Almost all of the questions directly mention the Freedom Caucus. To get a clear picture of why the Freedom Caucus.

To get a clear picture of why the Freedom Caucus does what it does, you need to know a couple of things.

First is where the Caucus came from and what its goal is. The second is the reminder that all

politics is local. Okay, so the Freedom Caucus is invitation only and was formed around 2015.

It has roots in the Tea Party.

Its stated goal is to push Republican leadership

further and further right,

so its entire goal is to be a pain to the leadership.

In the Trump era this goal seemed to shift to also include unquestioning loyalty to Trump.

But the goal is still further and further right. The

caucus doesn't publish an official list of members but there are unofficial lists.

I'll put one down below if you want to check the next bit out for yourself.

Now on to the second part, all politics is local.

If you end up in a caucus that is all about pushing further and further right, it's a safe

assumption that you're pretty far right yourself. If you're incredibly far right

and your views are known by voters, you can't win in a competitive district. You probably wouldn't even

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