Last week, Republican George Santos got the boot from Congress amid a succession of ongoing scandals and legal problems surrounding him.

The indictments against Santos exist due to his alleged money laundering, wire fraud, and a litany of other crimes. With the GOP consistently driving home the merits of law and order, it wasn't really a good look for one of the party's sitting members to be under fire from the law.

That's not the end of the problems with Santos by any means though. On top of his indictments, Americans learned the former New York congressman deceived voters about his history, religious background, education, family, and more.

All things considered, the House of Representatives, a body narrowly controlled by the Republican Party, made the right move in showing Santos the exit door.

America has got to start electing better leaders

In recent years, many in this country have sadly stopped viewing character as a critically determining factor of someone's fitness for office. Trumpism, in particular, asserts that character doesn't matter and it's all about "getting the job done."

The end result of this is a disturbing level of division in this country, with leaders like Rep. Marjorie Greene calling for the seceding of red states from blue states and Rep. Rashida Tlaib openly giving antisemitic slogans a boost.

Character does matter when choosing leaders to get (or remain) in office. Furthermore, a prospect's character directly influences their ability to "get the job done." The idea that character and leadership remain completely divorced from one another is a fallacy. They go hand in hand.

Even if we completely overlook all the federal indictments against Santos, the plethora of lies he told about so many aspects of his life is disturbing. The same goes for reports of him using money from his campaign donors to pay for casinos, online sexual content, and other personal expenditures.

Santos' own former campaign manager, Nancy Marks, even pled guilty to a host of felonies. These felonies include conspiring to engage in identity theft, make false statements, and commit wire fraud.

Better luck next time

With new congressional races coming up in 2024 and 2026, America has a chance to do better when electing leaders. If officials win elections, only for objectively damning skeletons to later emerge, voting them out (like Santos) is the only feasible option.

America has a lot of healing to do. We have a lot of divisions to overcome and bridges to rebuild. This country will not be able to recover if sorry people with the character of George Santos continue making their way into elected offices.