By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – “I consider myself … politically homeless.”

That’s what former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of northern Illinois says these days. He was one of only two Republicans on the select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Both – the other being now former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney – were ostracized by fellow Republicans.

Kinzinger, who now lives in Texas and who has written a book, Renegade, spoke to CBS’s Major Garrett for Garrett’s podcast, “The Takeout.”

American democracy, Kinzinger said, rests on what he called a compact that everybody plays by the same rules. He compared it to, say, the St. Louis Cardinals deciding the umpire’s rules do not matter and running to third base instead of first. “You don’t have a game anymore. You can never get back to order,” he said..”It’s no different in politics.”

One way in which many of Kinzinger’s former Republican colleagues get it wrong, he said, is that “the oath isn’t to our district; it’s not to the 700,000 people we represent. It’s to the Constitution.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].