A cancer in our democracy

Editor, Gettysburg Times,

Perhaps you are as distressed as I am. It pains me greatly to understand that members of the Republican Party, who abetted Donald Trump in his pursuit of power, will remain in public office to conduct business as if they were as noble and worthy of public office as we earlier believed. The Republican Party’s failure to take action on these miscreants is an unmistakable sign of the party’s moral hollowness. How can a democratic society tolerate the continuation in office of individuals who hold the truth in disregard? How can a democratic society allow these elected officials — elected because of their alleged moral standing and respect for the law — to perpetuate their disregard for the pursuit of truth? A democratic society cannot survive under these circumstances; history is full of examples.

Post the Jan. 6 report, and these Republican members sing the same refrain they did when the committee was constituted: it’s not legal, it is partisan. Yet it was the Republican leader in the House, K. McCarthy, who refused to support an independent commission to address the invasion of the Capitol. These refrains are as laughable as those who claimed the invasion was a picnic for patriots.

Nationally, the Republican Party must rise above its attachment to Donald Trump, expunge from its midst those who would seek their own ends, and commit itself to the pursuit of truth. Locally, the party’s legitimacy stands on its ability to address the moral illegitimacy of Doug Mastriano and Scott Perry. Their continuation in office is nothing less than cancer in the tissue of our governance that will metastasize to the point where lying and disregard for the law become normative.

Tony McNevin,
Gettysburg