Sen. Ron Johnson is an embarrassment to the state of Wisconsin

Republican Senator Ron Johnson is an embarrassment to the State of Wisconsin and all its citizens.

Obviously I write that as someone with a tremendous partisan bias, but I also write it as someone who was born and raised in this state and who believes this is the greatest place in the world to live. I am a Wisconsinite through and through, and it pains me to see a state with a long and tradition of strong leaders from both sides of the aisle having elected and re-elected a leader as weak and incompetent as Sen. Johnson. Then again, I suppose history repeats itself in a way, because while our state has a tradition of strong leaders it is also the state that elected (an re-elected) Republican Joseph McCarthy, who is arguably one of the worst and most dangerous people ever to hold elected office.

While many have criticized Sen. Johnson for his close ties to Russia and his recent efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, the signs of Sen. Johnson’s disgraceful behavior while serving as one of Wisconsin’s United States Senators were evident even before his election. As a candidate for the seat he currently occupies Ron Johnson made it clear he was running for office because he was a “rich guy.”

During his ultimately successful campaign to unseat Sen. Russ Feingold “Rich” Ron Johnson also opined that he supporting drilling for oil in the Great Lakes, the world’s largest supply of fresh water, not to mention one of the greatest things about living in Wisconsin.

However, most damning of all was Ron Johnson’s opposition to the Child Victims Act, which would have made it easier for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their abusers. During his opposition to the Child Victims Act Ron Johnson gave testimony in defense of the Catholic Church, which as we all know has had a long history of covering up horrific sexual abuse of children at the hands of pedophile priests.

In addition to his seeming support of the Russian agenda here in the U.S. and his attempts to subvert the will of the voters in the 2020 presidential election, Sen. Johnson has a long history during his two terms in office of disrespecting his constituents while actively working against many of the very voters who elected him to serve. In 2015, Sen. Johnson let his racism show when he referred to “idiot inner city kids” in an interview with Vicki McKenna.

And in the midst of a crippling global pandemic that has seen countless Americans – including many of his constituents – facing financial ruin, Sen. Johnson voted not once but twice against COVID-19 stimulus checks for those Americans struggling the most due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While I was not alive during the dark days of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist witch hunt which ruined so many lives and caused immense damage to our nation, I cannot help but wonder if history will regard him as one of the worst senators ever to walk the halls of the Capitol. Thankfully in 2022 the voters of Wisconsin will have an opportunity to send Sen. Johnson into retirement so he can cause no more damage to this state or our nation.