Dear Senators Cornyn and Cruz:
I just watched you through a news camera’s lens from a distance as you welcomed the president to El Paso. It was your duty, certainly, as our state’s United States senators. But you have another duty that bears on your relationship with the president and your party. And you should be cognizant of how that relationship looks to the people you represent.
The people bullies need most and respect least are cowards. And you have met the president’s need for cowards time and time again. I think you can be better than that or I would not be writing.
I am a constituent of yours. And while we most often disagree on policy and legislation, I am nevertheless entitled to your most basic services. And perhaps the most crucial one is simply that you show courage in the performance of your duties.
The voters of Texas have entrusted you with the job of discerning what is best for Texas and America. What I am asking you to do is to sit down with members of the Senate, including the minority, your senate leadership and the president to make some meaningful decisions about how we confront domestic terrorism, racism and gun violence in our country. And I expect you to stand up to the president and the majority leader and tell them when they are wrong about the needs of the people you represent.
What happened this weekend in El Paso can’t be blamed on video games, mental health, “fake news” or social media. Gun violence at the level of horror we saw in El Paso begins with the largely unregulated marketing of powerful instruments of war to the mass market. The motive is money, not constitutional rights. Don’t look to your party and the NRA to tell you what to do. Do what is right. Do your job.
The prerequisite for any legislative solution is that you demonstrate moral integrity and enough spine to disagree with the president and the NRA.
Texans have a right to expect this from their United States Senators.
Thank you.
Lake Jackson Citizen
South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 