Decorum.
It’s a loaded word. According to one Merriam-Webster definition, it means “propriety and good taste in conduct or appearance.” According to Republican legislators who own a supermajority in their state house, it’s what their Democratic colleagues are lacking.
Senate Speaker Randy McNally used the word in calling out, as he put it, a “blatant violation of civility and decorum.”
Was it the way the Democrats protested when Republicans broke all sorts of laws, rules and traditions to redistrict mid-cycle to break up the majority-Democratic city of Memphis and Black voters’ power? (They gathered at the front of the chamber. They locked arms. The horror!)
Or was it the fact that the Democrats spoke up at all?
Either way, it was not enough that new U.S. House districts were forced through, diluting Democratic and Black representation in Washington. Republicans decided punishment was due.
As explained in the Tennessee Holler: “House Speaker Cameron Sexton sent a letter Tuesday to House Minority Leader Karen Camper notifying her that Democratic Caucus members will be removed from all standing committees and subcommittees except in cases where their membership is required by House rules. Letters to individual members told them to contact Camper for information.”
So, Democrats, who will further lose the opportunity to represent constituents, don’t even get the courtesy of a personal notice to detail their demotions.
It’s ironic, hypocritical and no surprise.
Just listen to U.S. Congressman Andy Ogles, a Republican who will be welcoming – or maybe not — new voters into his re-formed district. He posted on social media: “For too long, Tennessee politics has been dominated by cosmopolitan communists and race hustlers imposing their corrupt will on a deeply rural and conservative state.”
That doesn’t sound like manners, decorum or even a good and effective politician – you know, one who cares about the needs of every Tennessean.