Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas.
The country is still trying to shake off last week’s inept revolution. Inept but devastating. Saved from even more tragedy only by the sheer brutish incoherence of the insurgent ‘patriots’.
So where do you stand on all this?
I know where Senator Cruz stands. Right in the middle of it all. Encouraging. Enabling. Justifying. Dissembling. With his eye on the prize of a glorious political future. Bought and paid for with his blows against our democracy.
We cannot continue as a country if we no longer believe in the idea of American democracy. If we no longer believe in our processes. In our laws. In a common quest to be the best we can be as a country, and as citizens.
Did you see what the majority of America saw on Wednesday? The bright reds of the Confederate and Nazi flags and matching MAGA hats. A sea of Trump flags that outnumbered American flags. A noose. A raised wooden cross reminiscent of a Klan rally. Sweaters with Camp Auschwitz. Violence against the law enforcement they say they revere. But not so much when their own righteous lawlessness is confronted.
An officer was killed with a fire extinguisher. Others were seriously injured.
Feces spread in the halls of Congress.
You may say this was a radical few. But it was enough to overwhelm and storm our Capitol. This was not a small group of outliers.
And where do our new incoming GOP members of Congress stand? The fomented anarchy served as a chance for some to signal their fealty to Donald Trump above all else. It gave them an opportunity to say that they would rather lose American democracy than see Trump lose an election.
Importantly, some members protested the presidential election results in their own states. That is, they objected to the electoral systems that put them in office.
Others objected to the elections that put their new colleagues in office.
For these freshmen Republicans to be doing so with just a few days of experience under their belts suggests such extremism is now a mainstream position within the Republican Party — and distinguishing oneself by undermining democratic elections is a possible path to advancement.
We’ve seen all too clearly where turning a blind eye leads. If you stand and stay silent on anarchy in your own, young, growing ranks, you will assist in making America a nation of conspiracy theories and the mob, ruled by misinformation and lies.
The choice is yours. Please do not make it lightly.
