I was amused to see Rep. Mike Garcia woke up one morning after Jan. 6 and realized he wasn’t in Kansas (or Georgia’s 14th District) anymore (commentary, Jan. 30). Our rookie congressman first whines that people in this district have called him a seditionist and a traitor, he who had served in the Air Force over 20 years. I will remind the congressman that 20% of the insurrectionists charged to date are ex-military. Hiding behind the flag is not a good look and the congressman should know that.
Garcia says he represents a very purple district. That is true. He further states that any decision he makes will please some and anger others. That is also true. He decries the extremes of the political spectrum. All perfectly reasonable. But then he twice fulminates about the “far left” while referring to the insurrectionists as folks who “behaved” illegally. “Behaved”? No, congressman, those misbehaving folks were attempting a violent coup against the peaceful transfer of power. Had they succeeded we would no longer be the democratic United States of America, which makes your continued apologia of your stance on the electoral votes very disturbing.
Your role in the process was merely to determine that the votes were properly certified by each state. That was done, as court case after case determined. Your refusal to deviate from that stance after that bloody insurrection gives support and succor to those extremists. Even Sen. (James) Lankford of Oklahoma changed his opinion after witnessing firsthand the carnage that day. Your razor-thin margin of victory in the same election and the gracious concession by Christy Smith should have sensitized you. Instead you kowtowed to the most extreme element of your party, a distinct minority in this district.
The congressman says he loves California, but in the next sentence wants to prevent our nation from becoming what California has become. What exactly have we become? California is overwhelmingly a Democratic state. Is that what you are talking about? You want to prevent the nation from becoming Democratic? Isn’t that what Donald Trump and the insurrectionists were trying to do? I happen to think this is a great state and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. California is a leader and an incubator of new ideas and policies. The fact that my congressman thinks otherwise is very disconcerting.
Congressman, if you don’t like being called a seditionist and a traitor, it would behoove you not to associate with seditionists and traitors.
Lynn Wright
Valencia
