To the editor:
It appears our 8th congressional district congressman Pete Stauber (along with virtually all the other GOP congressional representatives) is taking marching orders from The Onion, an online satirical publication. The Onion ran full page ads in Sunday and Monday’s editions of the New York Times under the headline, “Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice.”
Although the Onion is notoriously satirical, our congressman seems to be following their “guidance” to a T: ” Now is not the time for bravery or valor! This is the time for protecting your own hide… Now is not the time for listening to your idiotic constituents drone on about what’s happening to their precious democracy. This is the time for getting down on all fours and groveling. Now is not the time to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ and have the tough conversations about resisting the ongoing assaults on American liberty… It won’t be easy, but you must search deep within yourself and muster up every ounce of gutlessness you have. Then, bend over and lick the president’s boots.” (https://theonion.com/ letter-to-congress/ )
What else besides cowardice (fear of angering Trump) would explain Stauber voting for deep cuts to Medicaid, on which 198,121 of his own constituents depend? Or why he as a retired policeman would not speak up against the blanket pardon issued to the January 6 insurrectionists, an incident during which approximately 140 Capitol police were injured (ABC news) and after which one died and subsequently four more officers committed suicide?
These and so many other offenses to your constituency will not be forgotten, Rep. Stauber. Please find your backbone, face your constituents in an in-person open invitation town hall, and encourage your colleagues to do likewise.
Fran Kaliher
Lake County
