Local opinion: We should be booing Rep. Ciscomani

If Congressman Juan Ciscomani loses his re-election bid in November, it’s because he never connected with his voters, his constituency. He voted against his customers, the folks back home in Arizona. He never listened to the problems they faced every day. Ciscomani absolutely refused to meet with voters at town hall meetings, supercharging voter backlash, fueling disgust, and flunking the leadership character test.

Ciscomani ducked, dodged, and hid from the people who sent him to Washington because he couldn’t explain his costly, destructive economic votes against them, which raised household debt and fueled rampant inflation; his adverse positions on healthcare; and his support for the reckless War of Choice with Iran. He miscalculated the economic damage he inflicted on working Americans. Bottom line: Ciscomani failed to make life more affordable for Arizonans.

He thought that constantly changing the subject with a steady stream of deceptive PR announcements, publishing a menagerie of staged photos, and shifting the narrative would obscure his pathetic voting record and help him wheedle his way through reelection. Ciscomani pretended to be something he was not to voters, even though his voting record clearly showed otherwise. Constituents see through Ciscomani’s cloud of false promises, gaslighting, and propaganda.

Ciscomani was repeatedly manipulated by Trump and the Republican Party in Washington and shamed at home for the consequences of supporting unpopular policies, including tax breaks for the filthy rich. Fact is, Ciscomani voted for President Trump's authoritarian — leaning vision 100% of the time in Congress, backing disastrously costly financial policies that hurt children, families, seniors, and veterans.

However, while selling out voters in Washington, Ciscomani scored millions of dollars in political contributions. Seeking huge returns, wealthy donors, industry, and politicians gave him big money. They got what they paid for from Ciscomani. However, dollars don’t vote; people do. The bill for Ciscomani’s votes — the economic volatility and lies he set in motion through his choices — has come due.

America is historically unique because it was founded on an idea: the belief that certain truths were self-evident and that humanity was endowed by its Creator with certain inalienable rights. These precious ideals gave birth to a constitutional republic in which every citizen’s voice carried equal weight and in which disagreements were settled at the ballot box in the individual states rather than by Washington politicians who refuse to follow the Constitution. Their lawlessness is fortified by their handpicked “Supremes” on the highest court in the land, the six pallbearers of democracy. The US Constitution be damned.

Political power trumps all. Power becomes controlling when the Department of “Just Trump” (DOJt) runs everything. America suffers under corrupt, unrestrained Washington fraud. Without even a patina of virtue, the Constitution’s principles vanish amid the Trump Administration's lawless hustles.

Boos are ballots; people who boo vote. People are angry, fed up, and fearful of the future. President Trump's favorite Congressman, Juan Ciscomani, will be on the ballot without Trump in November. Will the fake-news MAGA media machine drive turnout this election cycle? We will soon see. Voters don’t have amnesia. People are motivated to vote and hungry for sweeping change, including unseating incumbents.

America's form of government is not perfect. Yet it has served us well for the past 250 democracy-filled years. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people was only possible if the leaders those people elected to the highest offices exhibited the self-control, fairness, and honest temperance needed to make tough, impartial decisions for the people rather than for absurd wealth for themselves and their stupendously monied friends.

 These are dangerous days in America. For this Republic to survive, it will require both citizen mobilization and vigilant courts to protect the voting process and your ballots. A government should serve the American people, not the politician in the White House. We must restore public trust in our democracy and ensure that no future president, whether Republican or Democrat, uses public office as a personal profit center. The power and privilege of office belong to the people whom officeholders are elected to serve. Accountability is due on November 3.