Do the right thing: Patriotic dissent

From all over the world and often at great personal expense and risk, people yearn to reach the United States seeking opportunity and freedom. The freedom to love, the freedom to earn, the freedom to speak — the very same freedom that many U.S. citizens use to decry the system and its power players from stages, from pulpits, from street corners, and especially from keyboards. “Isn’t it counterintuitive?” One might ask. All of this freedom, all of this privilege, and all we can do is complain.

Despite the rhetoric in recent years painting protesters as “big city” extremist actors on the liberal fringe, railing against the system is as much a part of middle American life as scotcharoos and cursing roundabouts.

The 1965 Supreme Court battle over Des Moines high schoolers protesting the Vietnam War is a testament to that fact. But our tools of dissent are much more than a bullhorn and an oak tag sign. We huddle in the town hall meetings of our elected officials to give them a piece of our mind. We shake our heads and commiserate over coffee about how we would do it differently — we wouldn’t forget our roots the moment we left the district, or compromise the morals that led us to seek elected office in the first place. We would fix the priorities, we would reconstruct the ill-conceived policy. Given the opportunity, we would do it right.

Bearing this in mind, consider the standout decision by U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R, IA) to break with her party and do what she believed to be right — to withdraw her support from Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R, OH) bid for speaker of the House in the second of three votes.

This was no small act; every other representative from Iowa maintained their support of Rep. Jordan. And following her decision she reported receiving “credible death threats.” Jordan lent his support for Miller-Meeks earlier in the year, attending a $75-a-plate private fundraiser for her at the University Heights Marriott in February. Jordan’s visit to the Hawkeye state led to some murmurings about presidential ambitions, and the speaker role would certainly have offered him significant visibility on the road to the White House.

Rep. Jordan has remained mired in controversy, including his involvement in spreading misinformation alleging election fraud in 2020, his role in several government shutdowns, and accusations that he was involved in a sexual abuse cover-up when he served as assistant wrestling coach for Ohio State University. For her part, Miller-Meeks stated in a news release that her party needs a “consensus candidate” so that they are able to get back to work. She opted to support Rep. Kay Granger (R -Texas) whose formerly pro-choice record and calls for Donald Trump to concede the 2021 presidential race stand in stark contrast to Jordan’s bid to shut down the government in an effort to defund Planned Parenthood and his plentiful regurgitations of The Big Lie.

Despite her conservative platform, it would seem that for some people, appearing not supportive of Jordan (and by extension, the vitriolic and controversial former president) has rendered Miller-Meeks somehow not conservative enough.

To be born a citizen of the United States is, by many accounts, akin to winning the lottery. Our ability to transcend the social class in which we were born is virtually unparalleled. We enjoy a standard of living uncommon in much of the world. We have the ability to hold our leaders to a higher standard, and we exercise that ability early and often. I would argue that the political complaints and doomsday warnings of our countrymen are also a love letter and a display of patriotism.

We are a people who believe in a more perfect union, and who believe its pursuit a worthy endeavor and a civic obligation. Miller-Meeks decided to break with her party and throw her support behind someone she believed would create unity and therefore a more effective government. We all have the ability to use our freedoms for the greater good. Write your elected officials. Send that letter to the editor. Hold on to the microphone at the candidate forum until you have stated your question in entirety. When given the opportunity, do the right thing to the best of your ability.

Sofia DeMartino is a Gazette editorial fellow. sofia.demartino@thegazette.com