Nearly a decade after his election, it is time that we reassess Representative Thomas Massie’s tenure as the congressman of Northern Kentucky.
I am a lifelong resident of Newport and a proud graduate of Newport High School (‘19). I have been monitoring the interesting world of Kentucky politics since I was a teenager.
Now, as I begin my career, I have had the opportunity to see Representative Massie in action during an internship within the nation’s capital. I can say confidently that the self-proclaimed liberty Republican and “political science denier,” who has represented our district for nearly a decade, is nothing short of an embarrassment.
Cody Ares Baynori
Throughout his congressional career, Massie has made a name for himself due to his lack of political insight and has become a laughing stock for the Republican party as a result.
It is unsurprising that he has little-to-no accomplishments to show for us back home. There isn’t much to his track record other than his very short bill that only serves to abolish the United States Department of Education.
Massie was the sole House member to vote against sanctions on North Korea, the only vote in Congress against the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, the only member of the House of Representatives to oppose a resolution denouncing antisemitism, was one of three representatives to vote against the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, and is one of the few members of Congress who consistently vote to block disaster relief.
This history of nonsensical voting has plagued Massie since the beginning of his time in Congress. After all, there is a reason that Massie is always in the minority — and it sure isn’t courage.
Allowing Thomas Massie to continue to represent our district is nothing but a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. When he’s not sitting in a committee meeting texting instead of paying attention to the discussion, he’s making a fool of himself by trying to sue other members of Congress, or refusing to stand up to foreign powers, or absolutely dismissing simple scientific conclusions.
There is no reason to continue to send him to Washington if he continues to refuse to do the work that we have entrusted him to do.
On the rare occasion that Massie sticks his neck out for a cause, it never works out in our favor. He has been detrimental to the gun rights movement.
After four teenagers had been killed in the Oxford High School shooting, Massie took to his Twitter account to post a photo of his family posing with an assortment of guns.
Furthermore, while in D.C., I had the displeasure of witnessing Massie pull out a crude graphic printed on posterboard while Representative Sheila Jackson Lee discussed children in her district that had been killed by gun violence. Now, I’m not a person who thinks that we need to restrict gun access by any means, but this behavior is not how things get done in Congress.
To close, I would like to affirm that Massie has turned his back on Kentucky.
For instance, he has not done a thing to help fight the opioid epidemic. He has voted no on almost every bill that was written to treat those suffering from drug addiction. Massie claims to fight for Kentuckians while ignoring the thousands that have died due to this crisis.
Our district is a community of workers and we deserve better than laziness, ignorance, and inaction. This November, we need to send someone with a spine to Congress no matter the platform.
Cody Ares Baynori is a resident of Newport, was validictorian of his Newport High School graduating class in 2019, and is a student at Columbia University studying political science and English.
This younger generation has no idea what freedom is or what it cost. They think climate change is real but they don’t even look and see what the people crowing about it are doing, for instance, the biggest crow is Al gore flying all over in private jets , one of their favorite celebrities Taylor swift has already flew 187 times in her private jet. Obama cry about sea levers rising, but builds his mansion right on the shoreline, yeah he is worried about climate change. Scare you to obey, surrender you rights now. And by the way I am a lifelong democrat, or was.
Dear Alan Fryman,
My brother in christ, did you read the article? There is no mention of climate change, and the article does not support taking away gun rights. You are a silly man with silly words.
Best,
John Wilkerson
A good summary of Tom Massie’s performance which has brought no benefit to Northern KY. Fortunately we have an excellent candidate, Matt Lehman, who will oppose Massie in November. Matt is a founder of Koligo Industry Therapeutics in Louisville and lives in Newport. I encourage readers of all political stripes to check out his web site. Regardless of party, we need to vote for the candidate who will represent our needs and interests, and that is MATT LEHMAN.
I am not of the younger generation and I agree with Cody. It takes no effort, nor interest in his constituents to vote “No” 100% of the time. In fact, his nickname among his own colleagues is “Mr. No”.
Massie is a graduate of MIT. Maybe that’s why he does not know what is good for the people in KY?
I helped get him elected and I will do it again.
In 2022, in addition to the overall national ranking of 45th in education, Kentucky ranked 47th in population percentage that has obtained an associate degree and 46th in percentage of the population with a bachelor’s degree.
If you feed these people enough red meat, culturally divisive “whataboutism” and appeal to their greed and fears and above all – don’t confuse them with the facts – you are pretty much guaranteed re-election in Ky.