Three members of Congress explain why they’re going to Trump’s inauguration — or boycotting it

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/three-members-of-congress-explain-why-theyre-going-to-trumps-inauguration--or-boycotting-it/2017/01/19/cb4e2b80-de7d-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html

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John Delaney, a Democrat, represents Maryland’s 6th District in the House; Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, represents Maryland’s 8th District in the House; and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, represents Florida’s 27th District in the House.

Donald Trump will soon be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. This certainly isn’t the outcome that I hoped for, nor is it what the majority of my constituents voted for. But on Friday, when our new president takes the oath of office, I will be there.

In my view, the question of whether individual members of Congress should attend the inauguration has been magnified out of proportion. The number of the newly uninsured if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and the growing population at opioid addiction clinics merits more attention than the size of the congressional delegation at the inauguration.

This brush fire was lit by the president-elect’s inappropriate remarks about my colleague Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga). Lewis is a national treasure and has every right to skip the inauguration, particularly after the abusive treatment he received from someone who should be leading with more grace and dignity. I count many of the members not attending as some of the most dedicated lawmakers we have; I won’t argue with their decision, and I respect their choice.

Despite my grave concerns about many of the president-elect’s policies, I believe that it is important to be a respectful participant in and witness to the orderly transfer of power. This process is not about one man; it is about the office of the presidency. The ability to shift peacefully from one leader to another — one party to another — distinguishes a republic from despotism and proves that we are ruled by laws, not individuals.

Attendance or abstention does not relieve us of the responsibility to defend the Constitution, the responsibility to advance the interests of our constituents or the responsibility to fight for liberty and justice for all. I plan on observing the president-elect take the oath of office, which states that he will “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I pledge to use my position to hold him to that oath from Day One.

In George Washington’s remarkable Farewell Address , he prophetically warned that too much partisanship “kindles the animosity of one part against another” and can lead to “foreign influence and corruption.” More than ever, we should heed these words and strengthen our core institutions — including Congress and the courts — so they can provide checks and balances. Perpetuating the corrosive attitude that half of the country is illegitimate will only weaken our ability to serve the common good. The fight for justice and the need for new ideas to strengthen the middle class begin right now, and I’m going to be there from the first minute.

John Delaney, a Democrat, represents Maryland’s 6th District in the House.

Democracy operates on trust. The delivery of the oath of office is the moment we the people formally give our trust to the president, who then becomes the lead guardian of the Constitution and the general welfare.

I wish I felt the truth of this exchange of trust Friday. But I don’t, and I can’t fake it.

This is not a partisan thing. Thomas Jefferson said in his first inaugural address, “We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists.” I believe this strongly and try my best to place the common good over political party.

As a Maryland state senator, I attended Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s 2015 inauguration. I not only wanted to see the peaceful transfer of power, I wanted to demonstrate my faith that, despite our policy differences, the new governor would follow through on his promise to uphold our Constitution and laws.

I assumed I would attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration . I thought I could show my love for democratic constitutionalism and set aside my grave concerns about Trump’s bizarre provocations — his effort to discredit Barack Obama’s presidency by falsely denying his citizenship, his ridicule of Sen. John McCain’s war service, his absurd suggestion that Sen. Ted Cruz’s father helped assassinate President John F. Kennedy, his horrifying misogynistic bragging (at age 59) about committing sexual assault, and his slanderous attacks on the 13 women — or more — who stepped forward to say that his “locker room talk” was more than talk indeed.

Then Trump took to Twitter to lambaste Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), an American hero who was nearly beaten to death in his quest for civil rights, and I realized I had it backward. These are extreme times, and it is precisely my constitutional patriotism and love for our democratic values that compel me not to attend today’s ceremony.

I cannot bring myself to witness Trump swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” because he demonstrates nothing but disdain for the rule of law.

He continues to reject calls from experts to divest himself of business holdings that entangle him with foreign governments. This puts him on a collision course with the emoluments clause.

Despite a unanimous assessment by the intelligence community that Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered an influence campaign” of espionage, cyber-sabotage and propaganda against Hillary Clinton, Trump refuses to acknowledge the enormity of this assault on U.S. democracy. He skips out on national security briefings, casually trashes national security officials and opposes efforts to create a national commission to investigate the Russian attack on our electoral process. He won’t retreat from his praise for Putin and continues to threaten to dismantle NATO, while defending Russian imperialism.

He has advocated a compulsory Muslim American registry and “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” expansion of libel laws to silence the media, mass expulsion of undocumented immigrants the return of waterboarding, punishing women who have abortions and jailing and stripping the citizenship of people who burn the flag. Franklin D. Roosevelt said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, but this president offers us nothing but fear.

I hope to be proved wrong about my own fears for constitutional freedom and democracy over the next four years. If so, I will gladly apologize.

Until then, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. I will do my very small part to uphold the constitutional order — not by attending the inauguration, but by spending the day talking about the Constitution and organizing mass participation for Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington.

Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, represents Maryland’s 8th District in the House.

We all want to celebrate freedom

I’m in awe of the incredible opportunity that the United States has provided my family by allowing us to become part of the great American fabric after fleeing communist Cuba. Every time I walk into the Capitol, I’m reminded of the country that welcomed my family and thousands of others, as well as of the dictatorship we escaped.

When I was 8 years old, my family and I boarded a PanAm flight from Havana to Miami as we fled Fidel Castro’s revolution. We had purchased a round-trip ticket, thinking that the demonic Cuban revolution would only last a short time. Alas, the tyranny outlived PanAm, and today the return ticket hangs in my office as a reminder of a democracy lost.

My parents worked hard, learned English and started a successful small business. I became a Florida certified teacher and founded a small private elementary school. Eventually, I decided to run for office to better serve the goals and interests of families in South Florida. I had the immense privilege of becoming the first Hispanic woman elected to the Florida House, Florida Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. America is truly the land of possibilities.

Americans have a responsibility to participate in our representative democracy. No matter how you voted in the presidential election, a peaceful transfer of power is something to be celebrated. Our history has proven that, when we come together, we can accomplish incredible things. This doesn’t mean that our fellow Americans will drop long and deeply held principles just for the sake of compromise. Far from it. Many will continue to work and hold fast to their beliefs (as they should), but we must do so with outstretched hands to find common ground.

Soon, I will have one of Washington’s best views: Looking across the Mall as a new president is sworn in and another peacefully departs. Unfortunately, this is a privilege that millions of people around the world do not have. As a refugee from a communist dictatorship, the idea of a peaceful transfer of power would have astounded me when I was a child. Now, the sea of faces who will be looking up at the Capitol building comfort me. They are the ones who defend our democracy. Despite what their individual differences may be, they all, for that moment, have the same objective: celebrating our country’s freedom.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, represents Florida’s 27th District in the House.