For the first time in the history of the Republic the majority party in the House of Representatives stripped the committee assignments from a member of the minority party. Since Republicans wouldn’t chastise Marjorie Taylor Greene, the recently elected wild-eyed conspiracy theorist congresswoman from Georgia, for her repeated instances of insane, far-right remarks going back a number of years, Democrats had to take it upon themselves to do so.
By now Greene’s incendiary QAnon-inspired remarks are well known: Lasers from outer space, controlled by Jews, started the California wildfires; school shootings are “false flag” (staged) events put on by Democrats in order to confiscate the guns of “real” Americans. In addition she had proposed that the solution to Nancy Pelosi’s leadership of the House would be a bullet to the head. She posed with an assault weapon and pictures of outspoken progressive members of Congress known as “The Squad” as if to intimidate them. And the list goes on.
But the fact that 197 Republicans members of the House voted to allow Greene to keep her committee assignments in spite of her disruptive comments and insurrectionist-leaning social media posts is yet another sign of how deeply the country is divided. Greene is not alone in her thinking, no matter how insane most of what she spouts happens to be — she’s got her supporters.
Similar to most of the would-be insurrectionists who’ve been arrested and charged with invading the Capitol Building on January 6, Greene tried to change her tune. Prior to the vote by House members to remove her from her committee assignments, she disavowed many of her wacky past statements — just as these seditionists are now trying to disavow what they were caught on video doing: Laying siege to the seat of American democracy.
Nonetheless, pundits on the right are now saying that taking action against Greene is “cancel culture” at work, in effect, punishing or silencing someone because of the views they espouse. No, what really happened to Greene was “consequences” for her actions.
Just as there has to be real consequences for the members of the violent mob that invaded the Capitol. Just as there has to be real consequences for members of the military and law enforcement that are discovered to be undercover white nationalists.
The real question for the nation going forward is, how determined will the effort be on the part of the FBI and Justice Department to infiltrate and truly dismantle these groups of traitors parading as patriots? If the threat of violent white nationalism isn’t confronted head-on and defeated, the cancer of disunion will continue to spread.
The move to remove Greene from her committee assignments was the correct one and I hope it sends a message to others on the fringes of the far right that actions can carry consequences.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Cancel or Consequences?”
Kathy Wray Coleman-Clevelandurbannews.com
Some people see a little free speech infringement by the House of Representatives regarding Congresswoman Greene Mansfield. Ir does remind people who knew it that Congress can censor you for speech made before you are elected to office. But hate speech is not free speech under the Constitution, by most standards anyway. Good article