Is Alabama Republican Representative Mo Brooks a hypocrite, coward or both?!  Perhaps he is a sleek well-integrated model of both.  Because Colin Kaepernick said that Nike should not sell sneakers with a Revolutionary War-era flag on them Representative Brooks suggests that he should move to another country where their laws might be better suited to him?!  Is he speaking only to Colin Kaepernick or is he speaking to all people of color while using Mr. Kaepernick as his whipping boy just like the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America did when he attacked him and all other athletes of color for kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem?  And speaking of Mr. Trump who is one of the most lawless Mr. Donald J. Trump’s of the United States of America – if not the most lawless – ever, where is the voice of the Republicans who swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States when they took office?!  With everything that Mr. Trump is doing to dismantle the institutions and laws of this country while defiantly thumbing his nose at America and those branches of government that are his co-equals, where are their voices; where is Representative Mo Brooks’ voice?!

I am not saying that I agree with Colin Kapernick as regards his opinion on the previously mentioned Revolutionary War-era flag issue.  What I am saying though is that Mr. Kapernick has a right to his opinion and the right to express it without being relegated to anyone’s “not a patriot” heap and who should be banished to another country no matter that offended person’s political affiliation.  Is Representative Brooks a coward?  Is he a hypocrite?  Is he both?  Does it even matter which he is?!  What does matter is that he is not honoring his oath to the Constitution or his responsibility to the American people.  Representative Brooks and all of those other congressional Republicans who are supporting Mr. Trump while winking at his antics for whatever reason are assisting him in ruining this country and all of those great things that it stands for.  There is no legitimate excuse for doing that!  I am not suggesting that the right choices that they must make are easy ones but I am suggesting that they must make those choices; that is what they were elected to do!  That is what they swore to do to the best of their ability when they were installed in office!  It is obvious that they are not doing that.

I want to be clear.  I am not saying that Representative Brooks is a bad human being or that he should be punished for his way of thinking.  But I am saying that he is a hypocrite, a coward or a combination of the two and that he needs to clean up his act.  None of us is perfect and the majority of us are not faced with making such grave decisions with regards to our democracy as is Representative Brooks.  But the majority of us are not officials who were elected to represent the American people as a whole.  So come on Representative Brooks, stop posturing for reelection and do your job.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line