When I was a kid, a common schoolyard taunt was, “Don’t make a federal case outta this!” The message was if you picked a fight or registered a complaint which attracted the attention of federal prosecutors, you were putting yourself in a world of hurt. Federal prosecutions were successful 99% of the time because U. S. attorneys and the FBI didn’t come knocking until they had the goods on your complicity. Even mob bosses recognized fighting the Feds was a losing proposition. Despite recent antipathy on the part of Republicans for the FBI and the entire Department of Justice, their track record remains solid. More than a thousand Jan. 6, 2021 rioters have been located, prosecuted and then sentenced. Another 600 await in the wings.

Ken Buck worked as an assistant U. S. Attorney in Denver before running for District Attorney in Weld County. Later, as a candidate for Congress, he bragged about his successful prosecution record in both jobs. Whether the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U. S. Capitol is properly regarded an insurrection as conceived under Article 14 of the Constitution will be debated for the balance of American history. Did rioters break the law, and do they deserve the sentences they are serving? Buck says yes. Nor does he think they are being mistreated or punished as political prisoners. He also believes Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. These conclusions have placed him at loggerheads with MAGA zealots in his party. Now he’s chosen to quit Congress and kick over the trash cans on his path to the exit. Congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle are shedding few tears upon his departure.

Stay up to speed: Sign-up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

First arriving in D. C. in 2015, Buck published a book just two years later titled “Drain the Swamp.” Learning of his decision to escape Washington, I took the time to find my copy and review his litany of complaints. I’d forgotten his primary objection was not so much personal corruption, although he alleges instances of that, but his concern about the burgeoning national debt. On page 8 he tells of a memo provided by Republican leadership in the House to justify his first federal budget for 2016. “It’s bad enough that the budget plan was designed to deceive the American people. Even worse was that House leadership handed us talking points to explain to our constituents how all these lies, damn lies, and false statistics balanced the budget, as if they did,” he recounts.

That doesn’t sound like a team player, does it? John McClaughry, a Vermont legislator who served in the White House domestic policy office during the Reagan administration, was one of the first to observe, “We came to Washington to drain the swamp. When we got here, we discovered it was actually a hot tub.” Buck also laments, “Most Americans don’t realize that influence in Congress comes with a price tag. Members are required to pay for committee assignments. Chairmen are required to pay for their chairmanships… lobbyists, corporations, and wealthy individuals who need something from Congress raise the money.”

During the decade Ken spent in Congress, the national debt ballooned from $18 trillion to nearly twice that. It’s hard not to be troubled by this. Whether or not you believe, as Buck claims, that the collapse of empires running back to ancient Rome has been presaged by runaway debt, aided and abetted by marauding competitors, this can’t be a wise policy. I suspect Ken has colleagues on both sides of the aisle who share his concern. It must be frustrating, however, to ring the alarm bell for 10 years only to watch things get worse even when your own party controls Congress and the White House. Donald Trump’s $8 trillion in budget deficits during just four years sets a record for profligacy.

Congressman Buck’s decision to seek the Colorado Republican chairmanship five years ago indicates he was worried his party was at risk of jumping the tracks. He underestimated the difficulty, however, of trying to run a party apparatus by remote control. Party jobs are the most thankless in all of politics. Chairpersons are required to serve as referees for intramural squabbles. It is at this level where you discover partisan opponents are your adversaries while your real political enemies reside inside the tent with you. Today, Dave Williams, the current MAGA Republican chair, has become the gift that keeps on giving to Colorado Democrats. He’s a loyal foot soldier to the Big Lie and has repeatedly butted heads with Buck.

Adding insult to injury, Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert recently proclaimed following the departure of Ken Buck she is now the effective leader of the Colorado Republican Party (so much for U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn). Little wonder about the speculation Ken Buck is looking for a gig as a talking head on a cable newscast. I suppose once you decide to throw in your towel, it’s best to leave the locker room as well.

Diogenes the Cynic was the Greek philosopher who wandered the streets of Athens with a lantern seeking an honest man without success. Ken Buck’s lonely search for congressional integrity will be missed. Despite the fact former President Donald Trump had described him as “weak and ineffective” a few days earlier, he appeared in a Colorado court to testify on behalf of the Trump candidacy to testify that perhaps Jan. 6, 2021 wasn’t so much an insurrection as a riot – a distinction that makes a difference. If it were me, I probably would have found a reason to skip the hearing altogether.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former Colorado legislator.