On June 21, 2023, an event took place in the U. S. House of Representatives unnoticed doubtless by most Americans. Yet it was significant because it epitomized perfectly the sad condition in which our representative democracy finds itself at the present moment. On that day, the Republican House formally censured Rep. Adam Schiff of California. The vote was strictly along party lines, 213 Republicans for, 209 Democrats against.
In this context, censure is a public reprimand for alleged violation of House ethical rules or behavioral code. It occurs rarely, just twice in almost four decades previously. The intent is to disgrace the censored individual, but in this instance the effect is more likely to add luster to Schiff’s excellent reputation.
An earlier version of the censure motion against him would have additionally fined him $16 million if after a subsequent investigation the charges against him in the censure motion could actually be proven. Really? A censure motion moving forward without proof? Twenty Republicans were nervous about the implications of that punitive fine and voted with the Democrats against it.
And what were the grounds on which Rep. Schiff was censured? Well, the dubious formal charges allege that he unfairly criticized a sitting president, that he misused privileged information and further that he lied to the American people.
But scratch a quarter of an inch below the surface and it’s clear that what provoked the censure was the fact that Schiff has consistently been a devastatingly powerful critic of Donald Trump’s corruption and lawlessness. First as chair of the Intelligence Committee investigating the possibility of Trump campaign collusion with the Russians in 2016, then as the lead prosecutor in Donald Trump’s first impeachment (for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress relative to Ukraine) and finally as a member of the House committee investigating the Trump-fomented Jan. 6 insurrection, Schiff has laid bare Trump’s never-ending attacks on the rule of law and our democratic governing institutions.
Trump’s minions in the House have bitterly resented that, and now with the barest majority they are bent on revenge by whatever frivolous means. Hence this farcical, ineffectual attempt at political payback.
If one bothered to actually watch the Trump impeachment proceedings objectively in 2019 rather than simply listening to Fox News, he would realize that Schiff played his role impressively, persuasively, with due respect for facts and constitutional law. He conducted himself in all respects as one would wish to see from a statesman — in contrast to a political partisan. It was abundantly clear why he is one of the most respected members of Congress.
How bizarre that Trump’s House allies would charge Schiff with lying in his interpretation of evidence. If every instance of interpretive disagreement in House debates were regarded as lying, censure of members would be an everyday occurrence — we’d be counting them in the thousands.
How ironic that Trump’s House toadies could even consider falsely accusing Schiff of lying to the American people, while overlooking Trump’s 30,000-plus lies during his term in office.
(And then there’s Rep. George Santos, whose credentials as a liar rival Trump’s, though his lies matter infinitely less. The hypocritical House Republicans cannot bring themselves to censure Santos.)
So, aside from the triviality, the hypocrisy, the waste of two weeks of Congressional time that could have been spent on the country’s real problems, not to mention the ensuing embarrassment to the reputation of the “people’s house,” why does the censure of Adam Schiff even matter?
It matters only because it’s emblematic of a much bigger problem. It’s evidence in a nutshell, as if more were needed, that our politics are seriously, dysfunctionally sick. It’s evidence of a serious lack of integrity in our elected representatives. A sound constitution is not going to be enough to right the ship of state when so many lawmakers are operating in such obvious bad faith.
The founders knew that democracy would not be easy or necessarily stable. But they hoped that the people would have enough common sense to choose wise, disinterested representatives who would keep us on course.
That assumption is proving to be unfounded. Are the voters asleep, or are the nominating procedures seriously flawed? I hesitate to paint with too broad a brush in describing members of Congress, but clearly a good many of the current crop are neither wise nor principled, and the number who are willing to ignore personal interest in legislative decisions, who march in lockstep with virtually all party positions regardless, who would cast any expedient vote in order to insure re-election is not impressive.
I find it alarming that no Republican representative, not one, voted against the censure of Schiff. Surely some, at least a dozen or two out of over two hundred, might have acknowledged that not only was the censure undeserved but a very bad precedent for the functional future of the House of Representatives.
But no, Donald Trump declared publicly that any House Republican incumbent who voted against the censure of Schiff would face a primary challenge in the next election cycle, and Trump would guarantee that. And that was all it took. So much do today’s Republican politicians fear being primaried when Trump nods against them, that any integrity they may have, any statesmanlike impulses they might feel, just melt like butter in the sun. Hence the unanimous Republican vote.
George Washington famously warned in his Farewell Address of the danger that political parties pose to a democratic state. For a long time we thought maybe he had overstated. But more and more, looking at the current House majority, we see clearly how prescient he was.
When Schiff was called to the well of the House to hear the censure statement read to him, his Democratic colleagues immediately completely surrounded him, shouting their disapproval at Speaker McCarthy. Schiff said to his censurers that he will wear the scorn of this particular Republican caucus “as a badge of honor.” “Your enmity does me honor,” he said.
Who exactly was disgraced in the people’s house that day? Certainly not the principled patriot Adam Schiff.