Censure Marjorie Greene. Break up GA 14th CD
Crackpots need consequences
Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene wasted no time as a freshman Member of Congress, announcing that she’s filing an article of impeachment against President Joe Biden. The Hill reported that the text of this idiotic foray into nuttiness is not yet available.
Congress should censure Greene for frivolously and nefariously wasting everyone’s time with her presence. Further, Greene is well-connected to the very QAnon groups that stormed the Capitol on January 6th. Her constituency in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District elected her, not despite knowing this, but because of it.
At 2:01am today, while I slept, my phone received a text e-blast launched from deep in the dank weeds of her supporters—or perhaps it’s a virus from China because people who would donate to someone like Greene would click on anything. I’ll never know because I won’t click on it.
It’s not like there weren’t useful candidates last year to fill Rep. Tom Graves old seat. Graves, 50, retired rather suddenly, paving the way for Greene to win the Republican nomination against challenger John Cowan, a surgeon. I supported Cowan. The token Democrat who ran against Greene, an IT consultant named Kevin Van Ausdal, withdrew from the race and left the state in the midst of a nasty divorce. It wouldn’t have mattered.
Georgia’s 14th CD was created in 2011 after the 2010 census. The legislature moved Graves from the 9th CD, which was redrawn to give it more of a GOP-lean. The Republican legislature at that time continued to push Democrats into weaker positions through redistricting.
After a decade, now we see that the 14th CD was a mistake. It has coalesced into a hive of conspiracy Know-Nothings, and it has embarrassed the state by sending a nut from their crazy tree to Congress.
The GOP cannot survive with these pus pockets left unlanced. Whether you believe former President Trump should be convicted out of office in a second impeachment trial to bar him from holding office, or you think the GOP should become a regional rump party, forever in the minority, or you think Trump will create a new “Patriot Party,” gathering his saints for a battle royale; Republicans are toast if the party continues to allow QAnon to govern unbridled.
Congress should act to censure Rep. Greene for her connections to QAnon, and likely to some of the very insurrectionists who rioted at the Capitol on January 6th. They should censure her for filing articles of impeachment against a president who was sworn in 48 hours ago. I realize that some Democrats wanted Trump impeached from the get-go four years ago. I realize that Biden has baggage with his son. But it’s not impeachable, and to suggest it in the current flamethrower of a political season is both irresponsible and dangerous.
The voters in Georgia’s 12th CD elected someone irresponsible and dangerous to the House of Representatives. Fortunately, there’s a cure for this.
Just like the legislature did in 2011, to water down Democrat districts in favor of Republicans, it can do in 2021. This is the first full redistricting cycle since the implementation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Georgia lawmakers don’t need “pre-clearance” from the Department of Justice for its redistricting plan. The legislature is free to draw its own lines without onerous federal oversight.
As Georgia is gaining population, the 2020 census, when delivered to the legislature in the summer of 2021, may indicate a gain in representation—leading to a 15th Congressional District. But even if it doesn’t, the 14th CD should be redrawn into oblivion.
In the olden days, when a young ox wouldn’t obey the farmer’s commands, they’d yoke it to a more experienced ox to its right, who did what it was told. The voters in the 14th CD should be yoked to a more responsible electorate. Perhaps they could break it up by redrawing the 11th CD of Bartow and Cherokee counties and force Greene to deal with Rep. Barry Loudermilk (who is also Trump friendly but not QAnon crazy). Or they could pull Paulding County into the 13th CD, with Douglass, part of Cobb and south Fulton Counties, represented by Democrat Rep. David Scott.
The voters in Dade, Walker, Catoosa, Whitfield, Murray, Gordon, Chattooga, Floyd, Polk, Haralson and Paulding Counties need to be yoked somewhere else. In the 2022 election, Greene cannot be allowed to walk back into Congress.
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Gerrymandering of congressional districts is one of the central reasons why extremism has overtaken both political parties. Too many districts are 'safe' for one party or the other and so even extreme candidates can get elected and say and do crazy stuff with little fear of losing their seat. Senate candidates are elected by the entire state and therefore tend to be less extreme. I suggest eliminating gerrymandering completely! Why not let the districts be drawn as close to rectangles as possible (keeping the populations proportional). This would move things towards the center, and there would be more compromise and more things would get done. There are of course other ways to deal with the issue of gerrymandering, but it is not helping our country and needs to be reformed!