OPINION:
Say what you want about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, but one thing is for sure. The “political bad girl” has not gone all Washington on her constituents back home in Georgia.
“I still think like a voter,” she told The Washington Times. “I don’t think like a politician.”
This approach to governing has put Mrs. Greene somewhat at odds with the rest of her colleagues on Capitol Hill.
The reaction to her arrival in Washington caused shock and horror among Democrat lawmakers and even many Republicans. So much so that shortly after she arrived here, House Democrats kicked her off all of her committees. House Republicans, meanwhile, barely raised a peep to defend her — or the 765,136 voters who elected her to represent them in Congress.
To be sure, Mrs. Greene dabbled in some pretty ridiculous conspiracy theories over the years that people can find on the internet or might hear from regular folks sitting at a local diner. She has since repeatedly denounced those conspiracies and apologized for falling for them.
But, in her defense, how is a person to avoid all of the wild conspiracy theories at a time when powerful members of Congress — along with major news outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and National Public Radio — spent the past six years peddling the craziest political conspiracy theories ever hatched?
Whatever you think of conspiracy theories, Mrs. Greene got elected by voters back home. And just about everyone in Washington seems to despise her.
That contempt, to put it mildly, is mutual.
For decades in Washington, she said, “Everybody brags about, ‘Oh, I got a bill passed!’ Well, actually, I don’t really respect most people for passing bills because we should be undoing things.”
Mrs. Greene speaks forcefully about all that is wrong with Washington and the federal government, which she vividly compares to kudzu — an introduced, invasive vine that, she notes, “comes from China.”
“It grows three-foot a day. It swallows everything in its path. It will grow over houses, buildings — it grows over cars if they sit there long enough.”
And, like the federal bureaucracy rooted in Washington, the options for containing it are limited.
“You can’t ever tame it,” she says. “No matter how many times you cut it back or you spray it with Roundup, it’s gonna keep growing. The only way to get rid of it is pull it right out at its root.”
But not everyone in Washington wants to root it out.
Mrs. Greene warns that Washington politicians seek a “radical transformation” of America — with help from fellow Republicans. For example, the latest $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” spending bill, supported by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans in Congress, will build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations around the country.
“This is what all the big people are into,” Mrs. Greene says. “They want to change the way Americans drive their cars.”
Their stated next objective is to force everyone into electric cars over the next decade or so.
“That’s the government dictating our economy. That’s not supply and demand. That’s not capitalism. That is not the way America has ever functioned.”
Mrs. Greene gets most riled up talking about the people back home who pay all the bills around here and elected her to represent them in Congress.
“Mr. and Mrs. America,” she calls them, who wake up at 3 o’clock every morning to open their store or their business or their restaurant. They pay all their bills, they make payroll every week, and they always pay their taxes.
And then they have to listen to politicians in Washington complain about how the federal government can’t keep the lights on and has to shut down. Oh, and the only answer is for Mr. and Mrs. America to pay more in taxes and debt.
“I can’t tell you how hard it is,” she says with visible scorn.
“They do everything right, and they work their tail off, and they pay their taxes, and then they turn on the news, and they see these stupid politicians on television talking about a government shutdown because we’re running out of money.”
“It’s the most nauseating thing. They’re pathetic. These politicians are so pathetic.”
Mrs. Greene’s disdain is not just limited to Democrats. She is more than happy to openly criticize the more establishment “Bush wing” of the Republican Party, which she calls the “failure wing” of the party.
She does not believe in Ronald Reagan’s so-called “11th Commandment” that thou shalt not criticize fellow Republicans.
“Where I come from, there are only Ten Commandments,” she says without smiling.
One year after arriving in Washington, Mrs. Greene remains determined to be an unwavering voice for the 765,136 Georgia voters who elected her to represent them. And if you don’t believe she has that right, then — by definition — you don’t believe in representative democracy.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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