January 29, 2021
Dear Republican Congresspeople,
This must have been a tough week of sitting shiva. You were like many others who have had to mourn their losses without the hugs and kisses, home baked meals and cakes, or the hand holding that usually is part of this process. I suppose there were many phone calls and emails from supporters, but it’s just not the same as reading the Tweets from your former leader. The week is over, and it seems like you returned to work without missing a beat from the work you did before the official mourning period. Sometimes it seems as if you didn’t realize there is a new administration. It also seems that some of you didn’t follow the news over this last week, I’m here to help out.
We’ve seen and heard new videos and reports about what happened at the Congress on January 6, 2021. Apparently, many members of Congress feared for their lives and the lives of their families. It seems that some of your fellow and lady Republicans urged the invaders to kill Democratic members of Congress. You must have seen and heard these reports and yet, we have not heard any gasps of horror from the Republican leadership, or even the Republican followers. We’ve also learned that there are more than a few Republicans in the Congress who were and continue to actively support the invaders. There are other reports about the events of Electoral Ballot Counting Day and the organizing committees for the invasion of the building, but you can go on- line and read them. We know that Matt, from Florida, seemed to think it was his responsibility to go to South Dakota and have a rally to diss Lynne Cheney. Kevin, from California, felt the need to go to Mara-Lago to buy a steak and have dinner with his old boss to chat about good times and plan for the future. Then, there was Marjorie, from Georgia, who now says she doesn’t support conspiracy theories, racial, ethnic and religious slurs and who clearly is trying to disavow anything she previously said that would look bad today. Her problem is she continues to ignore the rules of the House of Representatives by not wearing a mask and of skipping the security line and bringing a gun into the building. Some of her co-workers don’t trust her for those reasons.
What I really want to discuss are the actual policies and beliefs of the Republican Party in 2021 and going forward. What do you stand for? What are your goals for the country? Here’s what I think you are currently saying but correct me if I’m wrong.
1) You really like being in power. That seems to mean you like people to gather together and show you love. You like your judges and lower taxes for super rich people. You don’t want to share – anything.
2) You really don’t believe in democracy, not with a small letter “d” or a capital letter “D”
3) Just like the crowd in the movie “Life of Brian”, you believe that “yes, we are all individuals” said in a monotone and in unison. There is no need to play nicely or work with others.
4) You believe in guns, especially the military grade ones, law and order, especially when it’s applied to others, and PATRIOTISM, when it means BIG FLAGS and limiting the right to vote to those who believe like you do.What do you hate? Here’s what I am hearing and seeing:
1) Science is only a radical opinion, not a fact driven truth as best we know it. QAnon, on the other hand, is completely trustworthy.
2) Elections won by Democrats are, ipso facto, rigged.
3) Donald Trump – Yes. Other Republicans – can’t trust them either.But here you are, stuck with a Democratic administration. Is your new plan, reworked from the old plan of being obstructionists, to be obstructionists unwilling to discuss good ideas on fixing public health issues, the economy (not trickle- down economics nor “oh my goodness, THE DEBT.) or infrastructure or climate change or social justice or EVERYTHING?(Deep Breath). Do you have any ideas or interest in solving these really big problems? If not, well, I’m thinking of the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are a-Changin”? It was an ode to the 60’s and the anti-war movement and the civil rights movement and a young generation looking for change.
I’m not quite sure how to apply the same lyrics today, it could go either way. It’s creepy.
“Come senators, congressmen please heed the call.
Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall.
For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled,There’s a battle outside ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times they are a’changin.”
Dear Mr. President 