I have eight grandchildren, three daughters-in-law, a son-in-law, and my four children. What country, what legal system, what form of government, what environment will I leave them? It is what motivates me every day. Nothing else really matters.
Every time I look in the mirror, I find myself asking, “What am I doing with the time and chance I have to help provide them with a well-functioning Democracy and a safe environment?” Since they are ripping this country apart with what they know in their hearts is a big, blatant 2020 election lie, I wonder what Republican leaders with families see when they look at themselves in the mirror?
Given how completely these questions occupy my mind, I truly wonder what Kevin McCarthy, Josh Hawley, JD Vance, Ron DeSantis, Elise Stefanik, Brian Fitzpatrick, David Perdue, Mitch McConnell and so many other Republican leaders say to their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews about building everything they publicly stand for on a fundamental lie.
“Well, I thought it was really important for me to maintain some power to influence a few policies in the short term, so I decided to lie in public and claim to be true what I knew to be false in order to keep the votes of many people who had been completely fooled by an amoral, narcissistic, charlatan, selling snake oil. I knew that the ‘emperor had no clothes,’ but I pretended that he did.”
“I did not really think about the fact that, if we base everything we say on a fundamental lie, which we repeat constantly, and to which that charlatan hung onto for dear life, it might destroy the core fabric of our society, but it appears that it really did. I also did not realize that maybe my particular policy for 2025 was not really more important than the devastating impact of destroying the most astounding democracy that was ever conceived of, and implemented by, courageous women and men.”
Human beings can soar to greatness against the threat of an evil man, as Volodolymyr Zelenskyy has. “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.” Or they can shrink away in the night, spouting lies, rationalizing their behavior behind the claim that they are protecting some short-term policy, while leaving others to fight to save our 230-year-old democracy that so many have fought wars and died to defend.
Republican leaders, hide those mirrors. You won’t like what you see if you look closely.
