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Dear John,
I want to sound the alarm: If truth is passé, and democracy is passé, then we are all in serious trouble.
The fact George Santos remains in Congress, after being indicted on 13 counts of fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements to Congress, is one more sign of the dangerous level of cynicism in our politics.
In Tennessee, a supermajority of Republicans expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state legislature for daring to protest against gun violence. Yet in the U.S. Congress, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy doesn’t dare lead a move to censure and expel Santos, lest he come one vote closer to losing his thin majority.
We cannot let this level of hypocrisy stand. George Santos has defrauded voters and gained power with a collection of lies so extensive it can only be called pathological. Shout it from the rooftops and sign the petition: whether he is expelled or he resigns, George Santos must go.
In all my years in politics, I don’t remember facing more cynicism than we are facing today.
We are seeing a new GOP ethos in the era of Trump and George Santos, and it is disturbing. As a nation, we are not only normalizing disreputable behavior, but also we are normalizing behavior that directly contradicts (small-d) democratic values.
Like Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects, Santos seems to have lifted his life story from the headlines around him. Santos’ lies included claims he was related to Holocaust survivors, his mother died from the 9/11 attacks, and that he employed victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. He lied about where he worked, where he went to high school and college, and he even allegedly lied to collect pandemic-related unemployment benefits while making a six-figure salary.
The democratic process does not matter to George Santos, or to the Republicans in Congress who allow him to keep his seat. It’s “anything goes” if it extends their power and influence.
But if we don’t hold precious the means of our democracy, if we say ‘whatever will get us to the goal is fine,’ then pretty soon we won’t have a democracy. Please sign the petition to make your voice heard!
Thank you for staying vigilant and upholding the values that enable us to keep the democratic experiment alive.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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