Land of the free, home of the not so brave

In a democracy, votes, not the threat of violence, should determine how the country is governed. The 197 Republican members of House of Representative voting not to impeach Trump today appear not to have understood that basic tenet. 

No doubt they will complain that this misrepresents their position; that they are simply reflecting the views of those who voted for them. There are two problem with that argument. 

First, the reason that so many of their constituents do not think impeachment is appropriate is that those very same representatives had been telling them for weeks that the election was stolen and so Trump's claim he did nothing wrong in inciting insurrection falls on fertile soil. From there, one can only conclude those representative knew what they were saying was false and lied or had themselves fallen for the lie. In either case, be it lack of integrity or lack of intelligence and judgement, they are unfit to serve in Congress.  

Second, in a representative democracy rather than a direct democracy, those representative have agency. If they believe what they are being asked to do is wrong they should vote their consciences. Indeed even before we got to this point, they could, indeed should, have told those they represent the truth - that the courts concluded there was no widespread voter fraud or any irregularities that would warrant overtiring the results of the election. Had they done so, their constituents would have understood that Trump's claims were bogus and that the insurrection was therefore an illegal act.  

If they vote to impeach, they will enrage those constituents to whom they had lied; they risk at the very least losing their seats at the next election, and may even be in grave danger from the anger they have fomented. And so, ironically, those who harp on more than most about this being "the land of the free and the home of the brave" find themselves in bind a of their own making where standing up to the mob they have created is the act of bravery that the moment demands. 

Failure to stand up to violent extremists who directly threaten members of our legislatures, state or federal, means we are living in a county where the threat of violence rules the day, where bullies get their way, and democracy is nothing but a sham.