They Shoot Socialists, Don't They?

Montana GOP Legislator

Have you noticed the terrible crop of Republicans in Montana's Legislature this year?

Perhaps if we would zero in on one such specimen, you will better understand the problem.

Rodney Garcia, a Republican member of the Montana House of Representatives, was elected to House District 52 which represents Billings. He currently serves on the local government, state administration, and transportation committees.  

In 2018, Garcia admitted to a newspaper that he'd previously been convicted of a charge related to a domestic dispute with his ex-wife, though he denied wrongdoing.  In 2019, in an interview for a militia news outlet, he referred to Child Protection Services as "kidnappers."   

And yet, the wisdom of the Billings Republican voters saw this man as someone they thought could well represent them.

On January 31, 2020, at a Republican party gathering in Helena, he raised concerns about socialists inside the government.  Speaking to a reporter after the event, he described socialists as "enemies of the free state" and claimed "so actually in the Constitution of the United States (if) they are found guilty of being a socialists member you either go to prison or are shot."  (The U.S. Constitution does not say that.) When asked to reflect on the appropriateness of his comment, he insisted, "I agree with my Constitution.  That's what makes us free.  We're not a democracy, we're a Republic Constitution."

The Montana Republican Party condemned his comments, but Garcia responded with "the only way I would give my resignation is if God asked me to."

Several members of the Democrat party in this Session of the Montana Legislature have told reporters of rude and mean-spirited words and actions coming from members of the Montana Republican Party. We have all read of many of their exploits of arrogance and blatant power-grabbing.  They also have been found guilty of usurping the rules of allowing the media into their "private" committee meetings.  We all know how they like to do their best work in "the dark and away from prying media eyes and ears."

With members like Rep. Garcia, we can understand the makeup of this band of elephants a little better.

What we don't understand is this:  How in the world did guys like him ever get elected?  The voters certainly share a large part of the blame for Garcia!  We're betting he is held in high honor around the right-wing's caucus coffee table!