Joseph Sabino Mistick: Nation needs real Republicans

These two things happened on the same day last week.

Congressional leaders paid their respects to Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was killed by the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, and whose remains were lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

And Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told his caucus that there would be no disciplinary action against recently sworn in Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for the kind of crazy talk that incited the insurrectionists who killed Sicknick.

Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments later in the week with only 11 Republicans joining the unanimous Democrats, has been a leading promoter of the big lie that the presidential election was stolen. She also has indicated support for executing Democratic leaders and FBI agents, claimed that our nation’s worst school shootings were staged, blamed 2018 California wildfires on “space lasers” directed by Rothschild bankers, and argued that the 9/11 attacks never happened.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had the right response last week, telling The Hill, “Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country.” Citing some of her most outrageous claims, McConnell said that she “is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

I miss the Republican Party. The real Republican Party. Maybe I am spoiled because I am from Pittsburgh, where Democrats and Republicans have partnered for the common good for 75 years. The truth is that nothing good and big has happened here without a partnership between Democrats and Republicans.

In the late 1940s, only Republican Richard King Mellon and Democratic Mayor David L. Lawrence, together, could turn smoky Pittsburgh into the jewel it is today. Their combined power delivered the legislation and funding and public support that saved Pittsburgh and prepared the region for the economic changes that would come.

When Big Steel collapsed in the 1980s, Democratic Mayor Richard S. Caliguiri partnered with the Republican-led Allegheny Conference to rebuild the city and its economic base. Together they renewed Downtown, guaranteeing the city’s financial future and generating the revenue that stabilized and grew the city.

When Democratic Mayor Sophie Masloff needed the region to share the cost of our regional assets because the city could no longer afford to go it alone, she turned to her friend and Republican leader Elsie Hillman and the Allegheny Conference for help. Together they convinced the state Legislature to create the Regional Asset District for Allegheny County, saving the cultural, educational and recreational facilities and programs that make a city a city.

And Hillman and Republican Gov. Tom Ridge worked to secure the missing financial piece that Democratic Mayor Tom Murphy needed to keep Pittsburgh in the big leagues. A world-class convention center and new stadiums were the result of that partnership, ensuring that Pittsburgh will remain competitive for years to come.

It has been said that there is a civil war raging for the soul of the Republican Party now, and it is a very public and often ugly battle between those who still believe in government and those who want to destroy it. Here’s hoping that the real Republicans win this fight, because the nation needs them.