Over the weekend, I reflected on the quality of our representatives in Washington, but not their politics. The political divide that plagues America is well known. I despair that we have lost the ability to find middle ground. Political passion is one explanation and when that passion is motivated by a yearning for social justice, economic fairness, or freedom, it can be a good thing.
Unfortunately, political passion also often results in an abandonment of civility. Politics has always been a contact sport (although I hesitate to call it a sport, because the impact of the outcomes transcends any sporting contest) and the reality that today’s lack of civility on Capitol Hill, statehouses, and even town councils may not be as bad as in some past eras.
Nonetheless, I wonder if we expect too little of our representatives today. Last week Texas Senator Ted Cruz, appearing on Newsmax, criticized “liberals” for suggesting that Americans limit themselves to two beers per week. That seems draconian to me, but the advice was only a recommendation. Cruz responded in his video by guzzling a beer and saying, “Kiss My A**.”
It is likely impractical, but perhap legislators who engage in unbecoming conduct for persons in their positions should be subject to some sort of discipline or even expulsion. The goal would be two-fold: To make legislators become role models for the rest of us. One reason that Congress is held in such low regard is because there are so many “crazy” people serving in it. If those “crazy” legislators faced the risk of censure of expulsion, perhaps they would think twice before opening their mouths.
The second goal is to facilitate more exchange between the right and left. It is all but impossible to reach a compromise with someone who is calling you a fascist or a communist, suggesting that the Congressional district you represent is rat-infested, or describing you as bought-and-paid for by monied interests.
And it gets worse. Sometimes citing the first amendment and claiming to represent their constituents, some legislators have engaged in openly anti-Semitic or otherwise racist behavior and rhetoric. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), for example tweeted, ““Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” She also has suggested that Jews buy political support and “push allegiance to a foreign country.”
Antisemitism is not the only offensive behavior of Representative Omar. She also sells t-shirts on her website reading, “F**k around and find out.” I wonder how many young people will be inspired to pursue a career in public service by her example.
Omar is not alone. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Alex Jones of “Infowars,” “it’s not that Jews are bad, it’s just they are the head of the Jewish mafia in the United States. They run Uber, they run the health care, they’re going to scam you, they’re going to hurt you. F**k around and find out.”
Let us not talk about the seemingly endless flow of sewage coming from Laureen Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), right-wing dentist Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and others. These legislators regularly flirt with white nationalists, pose for Christmas cards with guns, and throw slurs at their colleagues. Representative Alexandria Ortega Cortez (D-NY), for example has called Republicans fascists.
Many more examples could be cited, but is there anything either party can do to curtail unbecoming behavior? Probably not. Why? Because efforts to police the unruly behavior of some representatives would be dismissed as politically motivated and, counter-productively, would spawn more name-calling.
Conventional wisdom claims that Congress should limit its efforts to police itself by censuring only truly outrageous or openly illegal behavior and that voters should have the right to send barbarians to Congress if they want to.
I worry that voters are not up to the task. Despite their open antisemitism, Representatives Omar, and Rashida Talib (D-MI) are routinely re-elected to Congress. And George Santos (R-NY), who lied his way into Congress, is likely to complete his current term because Republicans are loathe to expel him given their small margin of control in the House.
Thus, we are not likely to see any effort to police “conduct unbecoming of a federal representative.” Expect more name-calling, lies, cozying up to racists, and other outrages. Do not hold your breath for all voters to say “enough,” but be grateful that Maryland is represented in Washington by people like Ben Cardin, Chris Van Hollen, Jamie Raskin and several others.
J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, and other subjects.
Reed Fawell 3 says
“Nonetheless, I wonder if we expect too little of our representatives today. Last week Texas Senator Ted Cruz, appearing on Newsmax, criticized “liberals” for suggesting that Americans limit themselves to two beers per week. That seems draconian to me, but the advice was only a recommendation. Cruz responded in his video by guzzling a beer and saying, “Kiss My A**.””
Bravo for Ted Cruz.
Antoinette Wilson says
Mr. Fawell: I am a “liberal” and I do not recall suggesting to anyone, or promoting the theory that Americans limit themselves to two beers. Tho Dr. Koob, Biden’s alcohol czar, recommends limiting beer intake, doctors also recommend healthy diets with more fruits and vegetables. Would it be equally appealing to you should Mr. Cruz stand on a cattle ranch and tell the world ” ‘liberals’ are promoting limiting red meat intake to 2 steaks a week. Kiss my ass!” ??
Alan Boisvert says
What Can Be Done to Stop “Conduct Unbecoming” on Capitol Hill? First, stop printing stories like this that serve to incite the problem to begin with.
Wilson Dean says
Cheering on the comments of Ted Cruz only encourages the insidious incivility JE Dean highlights in his article. I do not personally favor the idea of being limited to two beers a week, but I also think a more intelligent and civil conversation can be had on the issue than the smart a*s remark made by Cruz. Yet clearly he is looking only to appeal to the audience in the gutter, which only perpetuates the problem facing our political scene today.
Vincent De Sanctis says
Mr. Dean’s article on the unseemly behavior of members is rightly focused on a pattern that does nothing but further the political divide. However, Dean’s desire to provide examples from both political parties tends to promote a false equivalency. The GOP, both in number of members and the frequency of their vitriol far exceed the handful of Democrats such as Omar and Talib who behave similarly.
The problem in the House is that far too many members have little interest in seeing that the government works. Their priority seems to be creating and maintaining a culture of personal condemnation rather than meeting the needs of the majority of Americans. The outliers among Democrats still want government to work.
John Dean says
Thank you for your comment. I agree that “conduct unbecoming” is much more common among Republicans. You are right that I wanted to cite Democrats as well as Republicans.
I cited the two Congresswomen–Omar and Talib–because I find their racism particularly offensive. They may want government to work on some issues, but their attacks on Jews are unacceptable to me.
Mickey Terrone says
Hello John. While I certainly concur with your observations regarding Reps Omar and Talib, that they have spoken out in opposition to Israel’s policies and abuses against Palestinians, I don’t think you can reasonably begin to compare the volume of egregious behavior of Democrats with that of Republicans.
The Republican assault on civility starts at the top with Donald Trump, grabbing women’s genitalia, condemning Muslims and other immigrants of color, playing dumb about the KKK leader David Duke, paying off a porn star while his wife was giving birth to his 5th child from 3 wives, while howling about jailing Hillary Clinton. And this was all before he was elected. He was elected by a radicalized community that welcomed all of Trump’s behavior. That community buys into his lies, starting with Sean Spicer’s whopper about the largest crowd to witness an inauguration and the follow up explanatory lie from Kellyanne Conway that Spicer was offering “alternative facts”.
Trump’s employment of radical extremists like Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Stephen Miller, Sidney Powell, set such a depraved standard that the entire Trump Administration was a national nightmare of “conduct unbecoming” the US Government, American values or human decency. Numerous radicals like Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Josh Hawley, Ron Johnson, Jim Jordan, Tommy Tuberville (I could go on) often behave like circus clowns.
The Republican Party has become the New Trump Organization. Copycats and sycophants litter the 2024 Republican presidential candidate list. The stench of falsehoods and disingenuousness pervades the whole circus, which allows millions of Trumpist zombies to utterly ignore the realities of crimes as unconscionable as overthrowing the election of 2020. Never mind that hundreds of people are now in jail having been convicted of January 6th crimes based on hard evidence. The zombies are simply parrotting the words of elected Republican leadership. Never mind that 60+ courts rejected Trump’s spurious legal challenges. Somehow, the zombies still allegedly believe the election was rigged, based on nothing but Trump’s fraudulent claim. These people seem annoyed or disbelieving that their delusion is rejected. They won’t be brought into any kind of detailed discussion of Trump’s failed court cases (with many Trump-appointed judges) or the evidence that has put so many of his followers in jail for their involvement in the January 6th insurrection.
Never mind that numerous Republican congressmen and senators actually took part in the planning and execution of the January 6th coup and voted against acceptance of the Electoral College results. Never mind that coincidentally, many of these Republicans are working to defund the Justice Department, the FBI and IRS.
These Republicans are beyond “unbecoming conduct” and I don’t see how Democrats begin to compare to these fanatics either in numbers of extremists or the depths of their extremism. These Republicans run on extremism and get elected in their “safe” districts based upon radical commentary and street talk as per Ted Cruz. In reality there is minimal comparison but mostly contrast in civility.
John Dean says
Mickey: Thanks for your comment. I understand your point.