“That” in this case, meaning the abysmal, irresponsible quality of individuals both parties present to the public for election to Congress, and the willingness of lazy, intellectually-stunted Americans to vote for them.

Let’s just look at two, a sitting member of the House and a candidate for the job, the former a Democrat, the latter a Republican.

First, the Congressman, Democrat Modaire Jones of New York (that’s him on the left, above). On the floor of the House yesterday, Jones stated that Officer Brian Sicknick was “bludgeoned to death” in the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. That’s an outright, calculated lie, and has been a lie ever since the news media belatedly corrected its false narrative and admitted that Sicknick died of a series of strokes the next day that no physician could tie to his experiences in the riot; the medical examiner ruled his a death of “natural causes.” True, President Biden continued to use the false narrative either because he’s dishonest or because he’s sliding into dementia, but Jones doesn’t have the latter excuse. He made a deliberately false statement to continue the absurd “the riot in the Capitol was the worst thing ever and proves we’re threatened by fascism” theme that Democrats hope will keep them from being wiped out in November. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC.) couldn’t let him get away with it, and corrected Jones on the spot.Jones protested that the disparity between “bludgeoned to death” and “natural causes” was a “minute point.” No, a member of Congress deliberately stating false facts for the purposes of misleading the public is not a “minute point.” It is the opposite: signature significance for an untrustworthy and unethical public official.

Currently vying to be in a position to lie in the halls of Congress like Jones does is Republican J.R. Majewski, now campaigning for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat. Majewski hypes himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and endured tough combat conditions.

He was never in combat. Majewski was based at Kadena Air Base in Japan for much of his active-duty service. He later deployed for six months to Qatar, where he helped load and unload planes while serving as a “passenger operations specialist.” While based in Qatar, Majewski landed at other air bases to transfer military passengers, medics, and supplies. Not that there is anything wrong with that…except that he’s encouraged the public to believe otherwise.

The tagline “veteran for Congress” appears on his campaign merchandise. A Facebook ad promoted him as a “combat veteran.” A campaign video released this year showed Majewski walking with a rifle through a vacant factory while pledging to restore an America that is “independent and strong like the country I fought for.”

Well, technically any member of the armed services who serves to support combat troops during wartime is kind of, sort of, “fighting.” But the House Republican campaign committee released a biography that describes Majewski as a veteran whose “squadron was one of the first on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11.”

False. As with the “fighting” deceit, Majewski’s combat argument is technical and based on semantics. During the Persian Gulf War, the first President Bush designated countries used as combat support areas as “combat zones” in order to, among other reasons,  help veterans receive a favorable tax status. Qatar, which is now home to the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, was one of the countries that received the new designation under Bush’s executive order.

Asked to clarify his status as a veteran, Majewski’s campaign just huminahumina-ed by releasing a non-responsive statement by the candidate, saying “I am proud to have served my country. My accomplishments and record are under attack, meanwhile, career politician Marcy Kaptur has a forty-year record of failure for my Toledo community, which is why I’m running for Congress.” He did not say, “Here’s my record, and I’ll stand on it,” because he can’t. In a 2021 podcast interview, Majewski said, after again claiming to have fought in Afghanistan, “I don’t like talking about my military experience.”

I bet he doesn’t, now that he’s been caught lying. But hey, Democrat Richard Blumenthal got elected as a U.S. Senator after lying for years about his imaginary Vietnam heroics. And Modaire Jones points out that lying is no big deal anyway—details, details. As far as I can see, Majewski’s primary “qualification” is that Donald Trump endorsed him for being a loyal supporter of Donald Trump: after all, he was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. He’s never served in an elected office or run a company; he’s a career middle-manager. Of course, Trump won’t hold lying against anyone—that would be hypocritical.

Arguably the greatest threat to democracy is that the citizens who are supposed to run our country through their elected representatives don’t care enough to insist on representatives who can be trusted to preserve a democracy.

_________________________

Sources: AP, Twitchy