A letter to Senator Shelley Moore Capito:
I am a constituent in Charleston, West Virginia who is very concerned about the direction the country is headed. The Senate’s approval of Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary combined with pardons of all the January 6th insurrectionists are alarming developments that have inspired me to write to you.
As a woman, I am surprised that you would support Hegseth after the many complaints, including the most recent affidavit, and his admission in writing to Senator Elizabeth Warren that he had paid a woman to keep quiet. What constitutes a credible sexual harassment complaint that would have caused you and other Republicans to re-think his nomination? How many sexual harassment complaints would have caused you and other Republicans to withdraw support for him? What part of his resume or experience led you to believe that he was the best nominee for heading up DOD? I expect the answer to my last question is that you did not necessarily believe he was the best person for the job, and the reason you supported him was only because he was the President’s nominee. I hope that is not the case, because we need Congress more than ever to counteract the President’s egocentric and fascist tendencies.
That leads me to pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists, which was shocking to say the least, even though this action was stated many times during the campaign. I was not exactly happy with Joe Biden’s last minute pardons of his family nor his preemptive pardoning of the January 6th committee and others who did nothing wrong. However, the two sets of pardons are hardly comparable. Republicans have spent the last four years telling the American people that what we saw on television during the riots in 2021 was not really what we saw. It is unfathomable to me how members of Congress can go from being frightened for their lives to suggesting it was a peaceful protest. What pardoning the insurrectionists will do is embolden them to become the President’s personal militia. When a Democrat is elected President in 2028, it means we will relive January 6, 2021 all over again. The Republican Party can hardly claim to be the party of law and order ever again.
I do want to thank you for your support of the “Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act” during the last Congress. I am 54 years old myself and going through menopause while owning a small business. Some days can be challenging, and so much of what I’ve read has pointed out how most of the studies on aging have been done with men and not women. Based on the executive orders removing DEI initiatives, the suggestion by Hegseth and others that women in leadership positions mean that standards have been lowered, the notion that only women are at fault for unwanted pregnancies and therefore deserve punishment, and even the Vice President’s bizarre comments about miserable childless cat ladies during the campaign all lead me to believe that this bill will not be resurrected, nor will women’s issues be taken seriously over the next four years. I hope that you will become a leading voice for women’s issues and leadership in Congress.
There are many other aspects of this administration that worry me a lot. I can’t say I’m a fan of the status quo, but I believe there are more constructive ways of changing society without tearing systems apart and starting over again. I understand the notion that a new administration might want to nominate people outside of Washington, DC who bring a fresh perspective to things, but at the end of the day, if you need an electrician at your house, you’re not going to hire a plumber instead. It’s pretty clear the cabinet nominees have only been put forth for their loyalty to one man. I ask that you become a voice of reason, with respect for American history, and take the long view of the consequences of allegiance to one man over allegiance to your constituents and the Constitution.
