1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I am in receipt of your letter dated 6 February.  I am once again very disappointed that you have elected to ignore the content of my message and have opted instead to provide me with examples of your fealty to Trump instead. I had asked you WHY you (and Rep Ryan Mackensei) have not performed your Constitutional duties under Article II, Section 4.  Specifically, your responsibility to impeach the President for his usurpation of Congress’ power of the purse by levying tariffs and his appropriation of Congress’s sole responsibility to initiate hostilities without any Legislative authorization. Why do you think the Founding Fathers provided YOU those responsibilities and NOT the Executive Branch?  In case you missed it during your High School Civics classes, these responsibilities (among others) were distributed between the three branches of our government explicitly as a series of checks and balances to preclude any one branch of exceeding its limitations of power.  Precisely in anticipation of a President like Trump that has broken the boundaries of our Constitution in numerous ways.  And in hopes that elected representatives such as yourself would exercise your responsibilities to the Constitution and your constituents instead of your party loyalty and misguided fealty to a single man. Since my letter, we have had further catastrophic erosion of our Constitution to which you have remained silent.  We have had TWO US citizens murdered by ICE and CBP Agents illegally depriving those citizens of their 1st Amendment rights.  Based on your letter, you disagree with the way I have categorized these actions.  As you said - our disagreement is the definition of the American way. You mention that you are waiting for HSI to complete their investigation of their agent’s murder of Alex Pretti (and Ms Good).  Surely you were taught better at West Point.  HSI CANNOT conduct an unbiased investigation of THEIR OWN Agent’s misdeed.  But we will see. You also note that DOJ has subsequently opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.  You failed to mention that DOJ ORIGINALLY declined to open such investigation as they prematurely declared the victims as “domestic terrorists” that had initiated overt attacks against government agents despite video evidence to the contrary.  Defending HSI and DOJ actions are indicative that you too have lept to a premature conclusion that exonerates the perpetrators and indicts the victims. You say you stand with the ICE and CBP Agents.  I agree.  EXCEPT when there is incontrovertible video to the contrary.  While I agree we should ALL await the conclusion of a fair and equitable investigation, I do not think HSI, DOJ or you are awaiting that investigation, particularly since you accuse the Minnesota elected officials of using inflammatory rhetoric that escalates tensions endangering law enforcement officers.  Your words are obvious indications that your mind has completed your “investigation”. A more recent unacceptable action has occurred.  Trump posted a disgusting racist meme two nights ago.  Trump has subsequently blamed the post on an unnamed subordinate.  The meme was taken down, but not until public outcry reached critical mass.  Trump refuses to apologize for his role in this blatant racism.  Interestingly, I have YET to hear your public reaction to Trump’s post.  As I told you in a previous message: Silence Means Consent.  Consent Means Complicity. I have sent you numerous letters recently.  You have consistently avoided responding to my issues and have instead demonstrated a total adherence in support of Trump and the Republican Party.  We have significant differences in what defines the Republic form of government that we enjoy. We are NOT a Democracy.  A Democracy is One Person/One Vote with Majority Rules.  A Republic however uses representative governance where elected officials are REQUIRED to represent their constituency’s preferences.  YOU are part of that “representative governance”.  That means you may need to subject YOUR preferences to those of the majority.  It may even require that you ignore the stance of your political party when your state’s majority differs.  Even more difficult, you must defer your fealty to your Party leadership and President when your district demands a different standard. You graduated from West Point and (somehow) “retired” as an Army Captain after a single term of service.  I’m sure they taught you the components of Leadership.  Foremost being honest and accepting responsibility for your decisions.  Your letter demonstrates your allegiance to Trump and the Republican Party instead of your constituency.  Your silence on Trump’s racism exposes your deference to the President’s shortcomings. I remember Eisenhower’s approach in preparation for D-Day in WW II.  He KNEW things might not turn out well.  He therefore wrote TWO letters in advance of the invasion.  In one, he credited the entire success of the return to Europe on the bravery of the soldiers.  Not a single word that claimed any responsibility for himself.  The second letter was written in case the invasion failed.  In it, Eisenhower assumed total responsibility for the failure. Where are YOUR letters?  When will YOU abandon your adherence to Trump?  When will YOU acknowledge your complicity in Trump’s disregard for the Constitution?  When will YOU admit that Trump’s approval rating dictates reversing your worship of the Trump cult of personality?