Assault on Our Republic

An Open Letter to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene:

As your constituent for a few days now, and your neighbor since you decided to move to Rome so you could run for Congress from our district, I hold you accountable for your public behavior. What interesting and disappointing behavior it has been. 

During the campaign and during the aftermath of the election you contributed to fanning the flames of discord and contributed to an assault that, like the British invasion of 1814, damaged our temple of liberty, the Capitol. The irresponsibility of that mob and those who incited them took the lives of at least five Americans and injured many more. The reputation of our republic is stained.

Thugs --- flying our Star-Spangled Banner alongside MAGA and Confederate flags, and wearing Nazi and supremacist slogans and Red Hats --- did not just spontaneously appear. They were incited by easily debunked myths of thousands of 17-year-old voters, of shredded ballots, of electronic manipulation of votes, and of a grand nation-wide conspiracy that according to the myth fraudulently, somehow, defeated Donald Trump  despite the same ballots miraculously electing you and other Republicans.

Who spread these untruths? 

Primarily it was the President. But he could have been corrected and this corrosive anger assuaged and calmed by principled Republicans who listened, as Lincoln implored, to the better angels of our natures. That did not happen.  Often — instead of correcting false claims and helping your impassioned supporters accept the truth, you chose to amplify the discord and stir the venom.

Congresswoman Greene, throughout your campaign, and in the days since swearing allegiance to the grand goals of the Preamble and the principles of the seven articles and twenty-seven Amendments, you have promulgated conspiracy theories and election fraud fantasies. Perhaps they seemed harmless ploys that would set you apart, garner attention, and help get you elected.  

Those tales were not harmless, Mrs. Greene; we know that now don’t we?

For better or worse you are our representative under the dome that Lincoln built, in the building where Adams and Clay and Webster and many other greats have served, where Lincoln and Roosevelt and Kennedy and John Lewis and other heroes have lain in state. You, our representative, stood by as our President spread untruths and ginned up anger. You spread some yourself. 

It is my sincere hope that order, civility, and truth can return to the halls of our Congress and our executive branch. You have only just begun but you’ve seen the harm done to the body politick by such poisonous rhetoric. I beg you to change your ways.

Bring honor back to Congress. Admit your mistake. Call on the President to accept responsibility by resigning immediately. Failing that call for the invocation of the 25th Amendment or impeach him and support his removal. 

Enough is enough.