Letters to My Congressman (7)

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go." Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 3, William Shakespeare.

I truly want to believe your words, but with each one of your votes, it gets harder and harder to do so. You sure sounded like an “independent moderate” during your first term and the campaign for your second term. You seem to have said all the correct moderate things which imply to the uninformed that you were a reasonable compassionate leader. And I must congratulate you: your words were quite effective to the uninformed and perfectly constructed to shape the thoughts of the voters in this purple district. Your rhetoric is so effective I even began to wonder if you began to believe those fine words yourself. Which sadly would have meant you would have even less moral clarity than the murderous King Claudius in Hamlet who at least recognizes his words are empty in the face of his blind ambition for power.

So let’s not talk about words, but instead your actions, to reveal the truth about your political character. In your first term, you voted with the ugly Trumpian herd over 80% of the time. Yes, you agreed to be complicit with the actions of a narcissistic ignorant demagogue as he shaped public policy that shoveled trillions to the rich, destroyed our environment, ripped innocent children from their mothers, weakened access to healthcare for the sick, and championed evil dictatorships at the expense of our allies. And while you cast these votes, you told us with a winning smile that you were an “independent moderate” although for some strange reason you refrained from holding town halls with your constituents where they could challenge you publicly about your voting record.

I had hoped that when the American people spoke resoundingly on November 6, 2018 in a wave election that saw 40 of your Republican colleagues ousted from Congress (which signaled the urgent thought that this ugly presidency must be finally checked) that you would begin to see the disconnect between your false words and the true thoughts which I still hoped you have. But alas, this week I was sadly mistaken because again, you voted with the Trumpian herd for a pointless border wall slogan which inevitably led to the shutdown of our great government. An independent moderate would not support the political stunt that this chaos-inducing president has foisted on our country simply to curry favor with his ignorant political base. The words “build the wall” do not reflect a sensible immigration policy, but only a dumbing down of American politics with simplistic words that solve nothing, but rather create only an incitement to hate and intolerance. You therefore even argued against the compromise your Senate Republicans had just condoned which would have allowed a continuation of over 1 billion dollars for sensible border security. Instead you voted with the Trumpian herd to “build the wall” with over 5 billion dollars of our tax dollars.

You cast this vote knowing full well it would create a government shutdown. Not only would vital government services no longer be available to the general public, but now, over 800,000 of your former federal employee colleagues, ordinary citizens with rent to pay and families to feed, will not be getting paychecks this holiday season because of your action of complicity with this radical Trumpian agenda. A true independent moderate would not have voted to waste billions of dollars on a vacuous political campaign slogan and hence shut down the government. A true independent moderate would have voted for reasonable border security and the continuing function of our great government against the ugly thoughtless Trumpian herd.

I hope then that you begin to recognize, like King Claudius, the disconnect between your words and thoughts. My sincere hope is that in your second term you truly begin to vote like an independent moderate for that is precisely what our country desperately needs from its Republican leaders. But If you do not have the moral clarity to begin acting like the independent moderate you say you are, at the very least stop saying those empty words and reveal to the voters instead the truth of your thoughts and actions that are so often aligned with the radical Trumpian right. End finally that disconnect between your words and thoughts so that the voters can see with great clarity who you truly are. Your constituents deserve, not duplicity and moral cowardice, but respect, integrity, and honesty.

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go." Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 3, William Shakespeare.