Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
Dec. 24, 2020
By Joni Ashbrook
The best Christmas present GOP members of Congress could give America is a “Declaration of Conscience” similar to the one that Sen. Margaret Chase Smith gave in 1950 condemning Sen. Joe McCarthy’s destructive red-baiting campaign.
As the sole female senator, Smith showed enormous courage for criticizing the bombastic bully for his reckless accusations of communist subversion that destroyed reputations of hundreds of innocent Americans.
Smith said it was “high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching — for us to weigh our consciences – on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America.”
For speaking out, Smith and six other GOP co-signatories endured harsh criticism along with McCarthy nicknaming them “Snow White and the Six Dwarfs.” McCarthy also backed an unsuccessful challenger for Smith’s next primary.
As I wrote in my last column, President Donald Trump and McCarthy are similar in many ways. One example is how Trump co-opted McCarthy’s playbook to silence Republicans and make them cower.
Watching Texas Sen. Ted Cruz morph from a top Trump critic to a loyal lapdog exemplifies Trump’s power over the GOP, forcing them to protect him over the Constitution they swore to defend.
In 2016, when Trump and Cruz were rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, Cruz gave a full-throated critique of Trump as a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.”
Cruz even suggested Trump’s refusal to show his taxes was because “there have been multiple media reports about Donald’s business dealings with the mob.”
Cruz was outraged after Trump attacked his wife and suggested his father was involved in the Kennedy assignation.
But all that righteous indignation crumbled when Trump threatened to create a super PAC targeting “Lyin’ Ted.” Cruz not only fell in line, but became one of the engineers on the Trump train.
Recently, Cruz put on his super sycophant cape and offered to argue the bogus Texas case challenging the 2020 election results before the Supreme Court.
Thankfully the justices declined to take the absurd case that sought to overturn the will of the people and hand the election to Trump.
Sadly, 17 states’ Republican attorneys general and 127 House Republicans signed onto that case that was an assault on our democracy.
Dozens of courts grew weary of Trump’s baseless allegations. A perfect example of the judges’ frustration was heard in the opinion by Trump-appointed Judge Stephanos Bibas:
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so.”
America is experiencing extremely dangerous crises that deserve our leaders’ immediate attention instead of fueling dangerous conspiracy theories about a stolen election.
We’re facing losing 3,000 Americans daily to COVID-19, a flailing economy, a long-awaited racial reckoning, as well as families that are overwhelmed by unemployment, evictions and food insecurity.
Our national security is also at risk. After Trump fired Defense Sec. Mark Esper, he warned that if his replacement is “a real yes man” then “God help us.”
Unfortunately, a slew of other Pentagon officials also resigned or were forced out only to be replaced with people whose top qualification is their loyalty to Trump.
And Trump is refusing to accept the fact that Russia is “pretty clearly” behind the massive cybersecurity attack on the United States.
If Republican members of Congress don’t have the same courage alone that one woman from the 1950s showed, then maybe they could band together to do some “soul-searching” on how they are performing their “duty to the people of America.”
Joni Ashbrook is a contributing political columnist for the Bastrop Advertiser.
