As I write this, Portland is once again on fire, Minnesota is bracing for widespread rioting, and citizens have found themselves sheltering in place, awaiting the outpouring of violence and destruction that have become endemic in the protest culture progressives have encouraged.
Across this country, businesses have been burned, citizens have been assaulted, and entire city blocks have become no-go zones. These mobs of self-styled “revolutionaries” have been left unchecked by liberal politicians, who discover the virtues of combativeness only when handcuffing the efforts of law enforcement to counter these violent extremists and protect citizens.
The cause of criminal justice reform and racial equality is a righteous one. It would be as foolhardy to pretend that there still isn’t work to be done on that front as it would be to pretend that the America of 2021 is still in thrall to Jim Crow-era repression. From the JUSTICE Act to the First Step Act, Republicans have been willing participants and leaders on criminal justice reform.
Freedom of speech, the marketplace of ideas, robust discussion of dissenting views among equals — these are the hallmarks of our government, and it is just this that the mobs reject. The stated, unabashed purpose of these mobs is to intimidate and cow citizens into adopting a radical agenda steeped in Marxist dogma. These groups hope to accomplish by force what they could never hope to achieve at the ballot box.
Of course, it is bitterly ironic that the explicit threat of violence is the method of choice for those pretending to advocate for a lessening of violence between law enforcement and citizens. The irony becomes twofold when noting that consistent, relentless violence is the exact reason why the Marxist “defunding the police” dogma has failed to catch on. That the buildings burned, businesses looted, and citizens assaulted and harassed were done in their name has been of little comfort to those who wish to live lives free of the threat of losing their employment, their businesses, or their life.
I mention all of this to provide context to the moral depravity of Rep. Maxine Waters’s call for increased aggression against citizens. Waters, a California Democrat, is well aware of the facts that I have outlined. Waters knows full well that just last week in this very city, diners were harassed by activists as they attempted to enjoy the warming weather. Waters has access to the exact same sources of news as any Americans; the claim of ignorance strains credulity.
Besides, Waters has a history of advocating for harassment and winking at violence. But now, at long last, the congresswoman has crossed the Rubicon — attempting to intimidate a jury in the lawful pursuit of its duties: “We’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
This is unacceptable.
We know exactly what Waters means: Cancel culture with a sharper edge. Let us be perfectly frank: Waters is advocating for roving gangs of individuals to intimidate private citizens and communities from sharing their political opinions through threats of violence.
As a member of the House of Representatives, I think this idea is destructive and malevolent. This body, in which I am proud to serve, is predicated on the rejection of violence and intimidation as tools of political debate. To explicitly advocate for intimidation as a U.S representative is to assert that the body itself is of no value and every vote for every representative is useless. Intimidation should never replace discussion in a representative democracy.
Waters believes voters should be subjected to violent mobs curbing dissent and enforcing the party line. We cannot let that stand. Waters is advocating for turning the temperature up precisely when we should be making every effort to turn the temperature down.
Thankfully, the U.S House does have tools at its disposal to discipline members who attack the legitimacy of the institution in which they serve. Please join me, and thousands of sober-minded Americans, in urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to censure Waters on the House floor for her abhorrent and repeatedly violent rhetoric.
It gives me no pleasure to advocate for such disciplinary actions toward a fellow member. I firmly believe that these measures would have been unnecessary had Democrat leadership disciplined Waters appropriately when she made similarly unacceptable comments in 2018. Pelosi described her comments then — “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from [President Donald Trump’s] Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere” — as “unacceptable” but did not see fit to mention Waters by name.
It is a difficult thing to push for sanctions against a fellow member of our nation’s premier legislative body, but Waters has forced the hands of my colleagues and myself. I will never hesitate to fight for our republic and for the right of every citizen to engage boldly in the public square without fear of violent retaliation.
Madison Cawthorn represents North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
