Lately, the American people have been inundated and bombarded with insults, conspiracy theories, lies, and such downright vicious rhetoric between lawmakers on Capitol Hill and at the state level that I fear we may accept these traits as the norm in the political sphere.

The mudslinging continues.

A prime example of common nasty insults is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter post from November in which she states that “Joe Biden, you’re not a president, you’re a piece of sh#t.” Progressive Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), known as “the squad,” have long borne the brunt of bigoted and racist slurs (and death threats) on social media from both the American public and fellow lawmakers.

Kevin McCarthy joked in an interview two years ago that he would be tempted to hit Nancy Pelosi with the gavel if he was elected to succeed her as House Speaker. In 2021, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) posted an anime video on Twitter in which he is shown killing New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and threatening President Joe Biden.

Then there’s the lying.

Today’s Gold Star winner of deceit is newly-elected New York Congressman George Santos, who has been caught with quite a few whoppers which include fabrication of his education, work in finance, real estate ventures, and claim to be a descendent of Jews who escaped the holocaust. He also claimed that his mother died in the Twin Towers on September 11 (she actually passed away in 2016). 

Failed Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake won’t let go of stolen election lies. Georgia Rep candidate Herschel Walker fibbed about graduating in the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia and claimed to oppose abortion even though he paid for his girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.

Let’s not leave out the former guy’s documented 30,573 lies recorded by the Washington Post over the course of his presidency.

Then the oligarch connection.

George Santos was reportedly broke before he ran for US House Representative but somehow gained a fairy godmother by the name of Andrew Intrater, noted money manager to Russian Viktor Vekselberg. Intrater gave a reported $56,100 to committees tied to Rep. Santos. Houston-based company American Ethane, owned by three Russian nationals (one of which has close ties to Putin), cultivated ties with the NRA and had dealings with Trump associates around the time of the 2016 election. In 2018, the same company contributed to various GOP campaigns.

As we head into 2023, Americans need to remind lawmakers that they serve the people and have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution. Grow up and dispense with the insults, infighting, slurs, and lies and get to work for the people. We also need to remind them that they serve us, not rich oligarchs who seek to erode our Democracy through dark money and campaign contributions.