For our country, the period between November and the end of January has always represented a smooth transition of power, one of the core concepts sustained within our democratic republic. What we witnessed on Jan. 6 was the opposite of that.
Instead of encouraging cooperation, our country’s leader and his allies stoked and incited violence, which led to Capitol Hill — our sacred representation of democracy— being tarnished and ransacked by extremists. For the first time in our country’s history, the Confederate flag — a symbol of America’s dark past — was held up in our federal legislature building. I believe what got us to this point was not frustrations with one another or even disagreements between political parties, but rather a lack of leadership.
Governing can, at times, be complicated, and our representatives are entrusted with the complex allocation of our country’s resources and the fate of human lives. That’s why we need principled leadership that won’t cave in to pressure from domestic terrorists, but rather advocate for the best interests of our community and our great nation.
We need and deserve better than Rep. Mike Garcia. On the day of the attack on the Capitol, at the very last minute, Garcia finally chose to condemn the extremists, and those who encouraged them, in a tweet. Yet for months before the attack, he engaged in the very same rhetoric that incited the mob. He previously tweeted a claim that his opponent and her supporters were attempting to steal the election. He paraded his intention to vote to object to certifying the election and eventually cast that exact vote even though some of his Republican colleagues decided, after witnessing the violence that occurred, to refrain from objecting to the results of the presidential election — the very results that have been repeatedly investigated and found to be without discrepancies by our country’s courts.
Garcia says he loves our Constitution, yet he continuously disrespects the American judicial system enshrined within that sacred document. Not only did his rhetoric include conspiratorial language that contributed to the attack, but there is also photographic evidence showing Garcia meeting outside of the Capitol building with individuals who believe the election was fraudulent, one of whom was holding a “stop the steal” sign.
From the beginning of the congressman’s campaign, he’s stated that as a fighter pilot, he ran toward danger, not away from it. Yet, during the months leading up to the attack on our nation’s Capitol building, he showed only cowardice.
Andrew Taban
Chair, Santa Clarita Valley Democrats
Santa Clarita
