Wyoming's Republicans have voted eloquently in their primary for the state's single seat in the House of Representatives, bestowing on Harriet Hageman a landslide defeat of incumbent Liz Cheney by a remarkable margin — greater than two to one.  Such a defeat would normally send the vanquished into the political desert she so richly deserves, but we can expect Rep. Cheney to strive mightily to remain a public figure into the 2024 political cycle, and certainly for the remainder of this year, in the faux role of "vice chair" of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6.

Rep. Cheney, while claiming to fill that "vice chair" post — and recognized as doing so by her Democrat colleagues on this illegitimate committee of the House of Representatives — fills an illusory position.  The resolution that established the Jan. 6 panel, H. Res. 503, did not provide for a vice chair.  It did call for a ranking member, but as ranking members are chosen by the House minority leader, and as House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy did not select either of the two "Republicans" on this nine-member panel, there is no ranking member to consult with the chair as provided in the organizing resolution.  Note also that H. Res. 503 called for a thirteen-member panel, consisting of eight Democrats along with five Republicans chosen by the House Republican leader, consulting with Speaker Pelosi, who famously rejected two of Mr. McCarthy's choices.  He really had no alternative but to forgo further participation in Pelosi's political charade.

Clearly, the Pelosi panel of political puppets is not a legitimate House committee.  Speaker Pelosi and her nine panel members, including the turncoat Republicans who are about to leave Congress with the end of the current term, acted in defiance of the terms of the House resolution that created the panel.  I raise this significant point now in hopes that House Republicans, should they gain the majority as of January 3, 2023, will immediately name a House Select Committee on the House Select Committee on Jan. 6.

The ponderous pontificating propaganda that falsely claims to be news by the mendacious malign media has been offset, recently, by eloquent defenses of civil liberties appearing at a number of websites, notably including this one.  But sheer eloquence is not an effective instrument against political thuggery.  Forthright action by the next House of Representatives, to declare null and void ab initio all action taken by the Pelosi puppet panel would be an eloquent and effective action to counter the incipient Stalinism represented by the "committee" of which Liz Cheney was proud to be faux "vice chair." 

The Western Journal posted an op-ed calling on Republicans, as first order of business as House majority next term, to impeach President Biden.  But such a distracting move, and one doomed to fail, would do nothing to remove the stain on the Constitution that Pelosi's kangaroo court represents.  Essentially, Pelosi spat in the face of the Founding Fathers by trashing the explicit terms of H. Res. 503, asserting the unconstitutional authority to conduct serious House business in an arbitrary and capricious manner, the manner of a dictator, not the way of the pre-eminent member of the House of Representatives. 

If the Republican majority in the next Congress does its homework adequately and subpoenas the written records as well as the members of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, the American people will learn that the committee placed itself above the law, gave no recognition to honoring the idea of due process of law, and understand that the American spirit of liberty will not tolerate a House committee that makes a mockery of rule by law, a mockery of fundamental fairness.

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives must hold hearings on the Jan. 6 select committee because its detritus must be tossed on the ash heap of history, its actions stamped NULL AND VOID — if, that is, our democratic institutions are to survive recent assault from our neo-totalitarians.

Photo credit: Hudson Institute (cropped), CC BY-SA 2.0 license.