Representative McCarthy,
I’d like respond to something you said over the weekend. In an interview, you remarked that we are “all responsible” for the January 6 insurrection at and in the Capitol. I am not, nor is anyone else I know, responsible for what transpired on the day. Unfortunately that day’s insurrection was inspired and perpetrated on a lie - the lie that the November 3 presidential election was rife with broad based systematic voter fraud.
While I and my friends and family are not responsible for the insurrection on January 6, you cannot say the same. As a public official in a leadership position in the House who promoted and embraced the voter fraud lie, you are.
I will not detail the total lack of evidence of voter fraud, and will not detail the mountain of evidence of President Trump’s intentional incitement of a crowd to ”stop the steal.” Instead I want to address you sad attempt to deflect your own culpability by your really lame attempt of conflating three distinct concepts: civil dissent, civil disobedience, and civil disorder.
In a democracy, two of the three concepts are honored vehicles to hold government to account. One of these concepts is never acceptable well ordered democracy. Your efforts to deflect your behavior would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. You more than most are responsible for what happened before and after the six hour invasion of the Capitol.
So you don’t foolishly try to conflate these three concepts in the future, let me briefly walk you through them:
Civil dissent: this is a basic cornerstone of our democracy. Each of us has the right, if not the duty, to raise our voice in opposition to policies and laws we don’t like. I’ve done this as a citizen, you’ve done it as an elected official. Free speech (as well as other forms of expression) is a protected right, and no speech is more protected than political speech.
You attempted a false equivalency by comparing the January 6 insurrection with the #resist
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