By Katie Edmondson and Luke Broadwater
Washington - When a Republican lawmaker (click here) approached Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat, on the House floor recently with a routine request that she sign on to a resolution he was introducing, she initially refused.
Ms. Escobar personally liked the man, a fellow Texan, and she supported his bill. But she held the Republican, who had voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election just hours after rioters stormed the Capitol, partly responsible for the deadly attack and questioned whether she could work with him.
Moments after declining, however, Ms. Escobar had second thoughts.
“Go ahead and count me in,” Ms. Escobar recalled telling the man, whom she declined to identify in an interview. “But I just want you to know that what you all did — I haven’t gotten past it. And it was wrong, and it was terrible. And it’s not something that I think we should gloss over.”...
Start at the leadership and their embrace of extremism. That is simply bad for the country. Since when do we let Republicans get away with backing White Supremacy.
The extremism of the GOP to begin is completely unethical and that is where the GOP began to lose the country. There was a time in the USA when ethics meant something. The GOP DECIDED since ethics is not a legal problem it was unworthy of noticing. Ethics is where neighborhoods around the USA value their quality of life. "Hello, Neighbor," is a greeting not required by law. But, it makes inroads to people that live in each other, share property values, share public schools and work many times at the same place. "Hello, Neighbor," goes a long way and creates the idea of community.
The GOP decided quite some time ago that breaking the ethic rules in society. The idea military style weapons were allowed by the constitution, in general, began to take away the sense of "ethics" in communities. All of a sudden, "A good guy with a gun" was the way to go. To secure communities? No. To sell guns. "A good guy with a gun" is primarily a myth. We have seen good guys with guns stop some bad guys with a gun that went a killing spree, but, for the most part that is a myth and now the country is awash in dangerous weapons.
Look at the other wayward values of the GOP. The latest, "See if the government really cares about you," was the of the Trump White House. The Republican went right along with his idea of dismantlling government and empowering enemies to create a level playing field. Our deepest kept military secrets were an open book under Trump and why? Because he was scared skinny of war. He believed if every major power on the planet had the same information and weapons everything would negate themselves. WRONG!
China and Russia were absolutely gigling over the fact Trump was an idiot about national security as long as you blew sunshine up his butt. And where was the GOP? Were they seeing the infractions in Trump's activity as impeachable. Heck, no. They were out fund raising because the Democrats were playing dirty politics.
Trump was impeached not once, but, twice. TWICE. And where was the GOP, manipulating the public interest so they could keep votes in their column. Remember? The US House under Speaker Pelosi handed down "Article of Impeachment" and rather than grabbing the chance to reverse Trump's hold on any sort of power, and try him to remove him from office; Moscow Mitch withheld the Senate hearing. Why? Why would a US Senate majority leader that just witnessed an insurrection of the US Capitol throw the impeachment trial to the next group of Senators? Why?
I will tell you why, because, Trump was guilty. Everyone knew it and people died. We witnessed his speeches and if anyone paid attention to Trump's relationship with the right wing vogters it was toxic and inspired violence against government. Moscow Mitch decided if the GOP waited until after Trump was out of office they could honestly say there was no way an ousted president could be impeached. It wasn't reasonable to do so and it was down right Un-American.
THAT IS THE ONLY REASON MOSCOW MITCH decided to postpone the US Senate trial of Trump, because it was AN EXCUSE to vote to leave Trump alone. McConnell did that. The leader of the US Senate majority at the time strategized to relieve Trump of any wrong doing to "save the party."
The GOP is "Party First, Country Second or Third depending what crony money is on the line."
They can't be trusted. The GOP has some of the most toxic members of the entire Congress. They hate. They hate others in Congress and they hate people that believe in justice rather than corruption. There are exceptions, but, they are becoming fewer and fewer.
The American people want their country back and they want the country they believe is the most benevolent and true to it's values of decency and honesty. You know, "Truth, Justice and the American Way." Only the truth can't be grown out of lies, the Justice is for all and the DOJ cannot be corrupt at all and do the president's bidding, especially among political opponents. And the American Way. Yeah. The American Way is about young people slinging guns into school? Children dying in their classrooms? Is the American Way about throwing ridiculous tax cuts at corporations so they can downsize and replace workers with mechanization and technology? Is the American Way incorporating racism as a norm in society?
That is the part that stops most Americans in their path. They remember a good wage. They remember hospitals with charity care without one doubt. They know that cutting edge education is the way of the future so long as it serves a good and moral purpose. The American Way allows different relgions to exist on opposite street corners where communities cross the street to say hello and attend festivals together. The American Way dispels fear and incorporates honesty and compassion. The American Way leaves a legacy of environmental safety, the beauty of nature and plenty of open spaces to the next generation and the generation after that. Nowhere in the American Dream does it say, throw greenhouse gases in the troposphere with abandon because everything scientists say is a lie.
The USA cares for each other and ensures every person has a fair shot and every child is valued. Sure that takes money, but, those values apply to everyone. If being a strong, independent person in this society sees a downfall as with the SARS-CoV-2 virus; that standard of compassion and belonging is vitally important.
Where are the real values in the USA? With the GOP? Or with Democrats that have kept the faith, unheld the USA Constitution and provided strength under a president that wanted to end the democracy and make himself king.
The GOP has earned mistrust and this Democratic Congress, in order to make all the necessary changes for the USA to recapture itself, just might have to go it alone. I have no problem with the Democrats taking a hard look at their peers. There is a lot to see.
