Epitomizing ‘Swampdom’

Clearly, from his letter in the September 14 Rappahannock News, Tom Garrett is frustrated in his new job. The freshman congressman from the 5th district bemoaned the “swamp-like” behavior of Capitol Hill that would “force” him to vote yes on the House measure that simultaneously provides $7.9 billion for Hurricane Harvey disaster relief and raises the national debt ceiling to allow for it.

Garrett, a tea party Republican, joined the House Freedom Caucus as soon as he got to town. That cabal of conservative and libertarian Republicans is committed to voting no on “every good idea” that might cost something, starting with the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, no matter what it might cost to the 26 million Americans who would lose their healthcare in the process. Their intransigence scuttled any hope of a compromise healthcare bill. The result was a humiliating loss for the Republican Party.

We can only imagine Garrett’s horror when his president cut a deal with the enemy to approve the measure, Trump’s first non-swamp-like action since he took office.

Voters sent Garrett to D.C. to do a job: pass legislation to benefit the Americans he’s sworn to serve. Voting against one's own party to bog down and block important bills in the name of ideology epitomizes Swampdom. Garrett’s truculence over having to do the right thing reveals him to be the very swamp-thing he claims to detest.

Oh, and by the way, apart from his rant in the Rappahannock News about speaking out against the Swamp, did he actually step up to vote yay or nay? Nope. He skipped out with a no-vote.