Silent no more
I shed tears for our country Wednesday. I will no longer be silent and willingly accept the consequences for speaking out.
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same …”
That is the first part of the oath of office that I have taken several times as an Army Reserve officer, most recently in 2012. It is also the oath taken by members of our House and Senate. My oath remains unbroken, and my loyalty remains to the Constitution. Going into Wednesday’s joint session of Congress, 140 members of the House of Representatives and 13 members of the Senate chose to violate their oaths by planning to object the results of a legitimate and fair election in order to usurp the will of the people. They chose to violate states’ rights, all to demonstrate misplaced loyalty to one man and the base that continues to support him and his continued lies, erratic behavior, and desperate grasp to validate his own ego. He has not made America great, but has weakened it.
I left the Republican Party in 2016 just after Donald Trump was nominated. I didn’t run out and join the Democratic Party, but chose my own path. I sensed something deeply wrong then, and even now fear that we have many challenges ahead. Trump is a symptom of larger issues created over many years by both parties and a shift in civil discourse from civil to uncivil. Those issues have only metastasized and spread throughout the GOP, emboldening the extreme right and white supremacists, giving credence to conspiracy and misplaced religious zealotry, and forced reactions from the extreme left.
So now I call out the representatives and senators who chose to object with no valid evidence in an act of political theater, all those who signed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the lawsuit brought by the state of Texas, all of the members of the Pennsylvania Legislature who signed letters urging the state’s delegation to聽 Congress to object to the certification of a fair election. You are complicit in Wednesday’s actions and you should be ashamed. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of our 14th Congressional District, also a Navy veteran, has chosen to object and participate in this dangerous charade and is also complicit. Your conduct is devoid of honor, demonstrates cowardice, and is antithetical to the oath taken as a military officer and U.S. representative. You and your colleagues have violated your oaths and are derelict in your duties to support the Constitution. Your final-hour efforts to denounce violence or have a change of heart regarding certification are nothing more than political posturing to save what is left of your careers and what remains of your terms in office.
We will never forget your seditious acts that fueled the flames of insurrection, even after you are removed or voted out of office. You, just as the president has done, have ignored the Constitution, and in your fidelity to him, demonstrated your tendency toward authoritarianism and are nothing more than cowards who fear change.
John Schoener
Uniontown