Roger Barbee – “… the investigations will demonstrate how silly and juvenile their so-called investigations are and how the ground on which they stand is like mud. The great sadness of all of this hubbub is that it never addresses needs like tax equality, solutions for better policing, aid to Ukraine, inflation, and so many other needs of Americans.”

This week House Speaker Kevin McCarthy officially denied seats on the House

Intelligence Committee to Democratic Representatives Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff. In his letter to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Speaker McCarthy explains, “I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee. Integrity matters more.” (Italics mine)

I italicized those words of Speaker McCarthy because I think all Americans will agree to

their importance for our country, and I am pleased that the Speaker used them to explain why he used his power to deny Swalwell and Schiff seats on such an important House Committee. It pleases me that Speaker McCarthy is so concerned with national security and integrity, and I ask him to apply that same yardstick to himself and many more Republican House members who voted against the Electoral College results for Joe Biden, or either supported the Big Lie, or aided directly or indirectly the failed insurrection or are guilty of all of the mentioned. 

Slowly information emerges about the Big Lie, the Insurrection, and the aftermath. Most of us, if not all of us, were told as children that the problem with lying is that one lie will lead to another, and that the truth is easier to remember than the lie. If fortunate enough to have such lessons hammered into your psyche, then another lesson taught is that truth will prevail. I wonder if Speaker McCarthy and many of his caucus were schooled in these lessons and if they were, do they believe and follow them. Another life lesson my mother taught me is that when someone blames another person of a wrong way of acting or living, such as being dishonest, the one who is blaming is probably the liar.

If Speaker McCarthy is honestly concerned about national security and integrity, I suggest that he arrange for himself, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, and Scott Perry to testify under oath about their roles before, during, and after the failed Insurrection of January 06. By this simple act, they would be demonstrating that their loyalty is with the United States and not one man or idea. After all, they took an oath to the Constitution.

But they won’t testify under oath, yet each one will grab a stump and give another screed about any number of false issues like stolen elections, the weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI, the corruption of the Biden administration, and more. However, they will not reach any meaningful conclusions in their marches down rabbit trails anymore than Trey Gowdy did in his exhaustive and futile Benghazi hearings. Why? Because there is nothing there. But I think it important that McCarthy, Jordan, Green, and company go onward in their “investigations” because the investigations will demonstrate how silly and juvenile their so-called investigations are and how the ground on which they stand is like mud. The great sadness of all of this hubbub is that it never addresses needs like tax equality, solutions for better policing, aid to Ukraine, inflation, and so many other needs of Americans. No, what we are being offered is entertainment like that of Representative Jordan when he whines that the FBI did not “raid” President Biden’s home and office in the same manner that it did number 45’s, while ignoring the refusals of the many subpoenas by number 45.

Since McCarthy and his minions insist on holding investigations, I suggest that they

investigate the huge inequalities in public education, the “lost” cell phone records of the Secret Service before and during the failed Insurrection, the opioid crises, our pitiful healthcare system, climate change, and so many other ways in which to help the American people. No theatre and antics of entertaining or raising money but addressing problems that ordinary Americans face and suffer from each day.

Roger Barbee