Letters: Don’t let ‘pro-chaos’ Republicans off the hook; ‘Party of Grievance’

Don’t let ‘pro-chaos’ Republicans off the hook

Coach Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings once said about their opposing team: “They are what we thought they were. And we let them off the hook.”

The shameful and dysfunctional fiasco that played out last week in the People’s House should come as no surprise. The anti-democracy, anti-government, pro-chaos faction of the Republican Party is what we thought it was. Let’s not let them off the hook.

And please keep this in mind on Election Day.

‘Party of Grievance’

For four days and 14 acrimonious votes, election-denying extremists prevented the election of a House Speaker before McCarthy offered concessions to the “chaos caucus” that will inevitably result in future House dysfunction. There was nearly a fist fight on the House floor — and phone calls from Donald Trump — before the standoff ended.

When the dust settled, extremists owned the new Speaker. Former Speaker John Boehner was prophetic when he said, “What they (the extremists) are really interested in is chaos. They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated government until it fails and they’ve finally proved that it’s beyond saving.”

Longtime Republicans know it’s no longer the “Grand Old Party.” It has devolved into a Party of Grievance, populated by anti-democracy, anti-government extremists who falsely claim every election they lose was rigged.

After the 2020 presidential election, they took their rigged election lies to 60+ courts and lost every time.

Instead of supporting legislation that addresses border issues, inflation or helps the poor and middle class, the Republican Party’s main focus today is on cultural issues, like abortion, same sex marriage, book banning and dismantling government sponsored health care.

Although House Republicans ran on solving immigration, inflation and crime problems, they’re now telling us they intend to focus on politically motivated investigations into things like Hunter Biden’s laptop and impeachment of the Director of Homeland Security.

We need two parties focused on comprehensive and bipartisan solutions to our country’s problems, not petty grievances and manufactured chaos.

Be thankful for our police

I read the affidavit that asked a judge to issue an arrest warrant for Bryan Kohberger. The affidavit laid out the timeline for the police and how they gathered and processed data, how they interviewed witnesses, how they asked experts such as those at the FBI, how they linked Kohberger to the suspected vehicle of the murderer, how they surveilled him over a couple of weeks, and how they obtained his DNA that matches the DNA found on a knife sheath. Their work was quite professional, systematic, logical and thorough. It appears that they have arrested the perpetrator of this quadruple murder.

Those who criticized the police or suspected incompetence should now apologize. How wrong are they who easily become impatient! Besides, the police had a good reason not to tell what they knew — they did not want Kohberger to go into hiding.

This episode is a perfect rebuttal to those who foolishly called for defunding the police during the summer of 2020. If such a proposal had been carried out, the police would not have been able to catch Kohberger. Resources are needed to do the investigative research that supplies the evidence against criminals.

Be thankful for our police. Blue lives matter!