A Call for Unity- Are You Serious?
If you are, listen up because I have an idea.
By now you have all seen calls for unity from members of the GOP, as well as others regardless of political affiliation. As Lauren Elizabeth wrote in her article titled “Suddenly the GOP Wants Unity “ (in Dialogue and Discourse on Medium), Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is one of those proponents.
Full disclosure- I am not a Jim Jordan fanboy. I find his style to be, in a word, obnoxious. Someone needs to tell him he is in Congress now- so respect the office and dress like it. Tighten up your tie, keep your sleeves buttoned around your wrists and wear a jacket. Your tough guy persona was fine when you were a wrestling coach, but those days are behind you.
If I sound superficial by my comment, guilty as charged. But I believe you need to dress the part if you are going to lead. That is why you don’t see army generals wearing Bermuda shorts and flip flops when they are at work.
As Lauren Elizabeth reported in her article, Jordan stated on Fox News in regard to the impeachment process-
“…….I do not see how that unifies the country. I hope what happens is what senator Graham said Friday night on this network when he asked Vice President Joe Biden, President-Elect Joe Biden to give a speech to the country and say we should not be pursuing this impeachment, we should not be pursuing this 25th amendment, lets bring the country together and move forward, and return to being America the greatest nation ever…..it’s not healthy for the nation. We’re at a important point. I’m very concerned about where we’re at, I hope, I hope we can begin to come back together.”
To the Jim Jordan’s of the world, I agree that we need to be unified. We are all very aware that we are “at an important point” and we are concerned about “where we’re at” too, even though you and members of your party helped to bring us to this very precipice.
I think most Americans, I hope most Americans, share the sentiment that we need unity, especially after the domestic terror activities of last week.
So here is my plan-
First, if you are really serious about unity, I think Trump should give a speech, with all the politicians who perpetrated the “BIG LIE”, including Jimbo here, lined up behind him and say ;
“We were wrong. The election was not stolen. There is no proof of that; if there was, we would have won our court cases. We did not, repeatedly.
So, let’s bring the country together, let’s get behind the new administration and move forward, and return to being America the greatest nation ever. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to work together. We — All of us- have a lot of work to do. I ask all of you to do your part and help us to heal and move forward.“
That would be a good first step.
Next there should be a press conference, with President Biden, Vice President Harris, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer all present, and in a show of bipartisan unity, ask the country to put aside our differences, and truly work together to try to make things better. They need to acknowledge that they will have their differences, but the vitriol and lies that have brought us to this point need to stop.
No, they will not sing Kumbaya after that.
Everyone should have dreams even if they won’t come true; I just told you one of mine.
That is my plan for steps toward healing and unity. But before I go, some parting words…
The impeachment last week showed us one thing- America will never convict a president on impeachment charges. Our two party tribalism won’t allow us to do that and it will always be seen as “they are attacking one of our own.” Even though the Republicans were victims of the attack, they won’t come to a consensus and condemn Trump for his actions in whipping up the crowd, nor for his inaction by failing to bring in back up forces immediately.
And one more thing Jim- it is not up to President elect Biden to tell Congress what to do when it comes to impeachment, or to tell Vice President Pence how to act on the 25th amendment . He is not supposed to interfere in those types of decisions.
Seems like you have gotten so used to interference from the Whitehouse that you forgot it’s not supposed to happen.
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