Yesterday, 23 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against a supposed “anti-hate” resolution. As anticipated, these Republicans are now getting called out in mainstream media for supporting hate because by voting against the bill, that must mean they’re in support of antisemitism and the smorgasbord of other forms of bigotry tossed into the bill.
In reality, these 23 members should be commended for not tolerating the sham of a resolution that was placed before them. Here are the members of Congress who deserve kudos for their efforts:
- Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
- Mo Brooks (Ala.)
- Ken Buck (Colo.)
- Ted Budd (N.C.)
- Michael Burgess (Texas)
- Liz Cheney (Wyo.)
- Chris Collins (N.Y.)
- Mike Conaway (Texas)
- Rick Crawford (Ark.)
- Jeff Duncan (S.C.).
- Louie Gohmert (Texas)
- Paul Gosar (Ariz.)
- Tom Graves (Ga.)
- Pete King (N.Y.)
- Doug LaMalfa (Calif.)
- Thomas Massie (Ky.)
- Steven Palazzo (Miss.)
- Mike Rogers (Ala.)
- Chip Roy (Texas)
- Greg Steube (Fla.)
- Mark Walker (N.C.)
- Ted Yoho (Fla.)
- Lee Zeldin (N.Y.)
Here are three reasons why they deserve credit instead of the bashing they’re getting in the media:
Representative Ilhan Omar was painted as a hero instead of a bigot
For those with extremely short memories, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was the reason this issue was brought to the House of Representatives in the first place. She didn’t speak out against hatred or righteously condemn wrongdoings among her peers. Instead, she did what she’s been doing for years: attack Israel and those who support the Jewish state. As our best ally in the Middle East and the region’s only true Democracy, it is anti-American to make baseless accusations against them or the people in DC who support them.
It’s one thing to have an open dialogue about specific disagreements one might have with the government of Israel or the influence they have in American politics. That’s not only acceptable but in many ways righteous. But that’s not what Omar has been doing. Not even close.
Nevertheless, this resolution doesn’t include her name nor the specific bigotry she engaged in while Tweeting to the public. She went from the root cause of the scandal to “she who shall not be named” in less than a week. Over time, she will be credited by mainstream media as the person who was brave enough to speak out and bring bigotry to light, forcing a resolution in Congress to condemn hate. She’ll be painted as the hero. This is 1984-level doublespeak at its finest.
Meaningless resolutions are meaningless
When the initial proposed resolution was to call out antisemitism, it had meaning. It declared Jews in America, who were the victims in 58% of religious hate crimes in 2018 despite accounting for less than 2% of the population, should be protected. It would also declare that speaking out in hatred against Jews was not okay, even for Muslims.
They could and probably should have also had a separate resolution for anti-Muslim hatred. Though they are not persecuted nearly as much as Jews in America, there is still enough anti-Muslim sentiment to make a resolution acceptable as long as it was done separately from the antisemitic resolution.
By throwing in every possible protected group based on religion, race, and sexual orientation, they took a solid resolution against antisemitism and turned it into a worthless resolution against nothing. It would have been easier to simply point out who wasn’t protected. The resolution could have been called the “Only Hate Against Straight Caucasian Males is Acceptable” bill and it would have had the same effect.
Democrats get to wiggle out of another fine mess they’d gotten themselves into
There is a schism in the Democratic Party. At least there was before yesterday. Now, their infighting will be swept under the rug like the scandal that was hitting Virginia Democrats before the media got bored with it.
By having only 23 Republicans vote for the bill, they’ll get singled out as hatemongers. Had the entire Republican caucus voted against it, we could continue the discussion about why the resolution was unacceptable based on its lack of merits and the presence of multiple demerits.
Instead, Kevin McCarthy and the rest of the Republicans retreated once again from the high ground they had been given, enabling the Democrats to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It was their responsibility to take control of the narrative by voting against the bill and explaining why they did so. Instead, they left the principled members of their caucus out to dry.
We’ve all seen our fair share of hate hoaxes over the past couple of years. This may be the first time we got to see an anti-hate hoax in play. The fact that it came from Capitol Hill would be hilarious if it weren’t so infuriating and sad.
Is the nation ready to revive the American Conservative Movement?
