Letter to the editor: Republicans not nihilists

Columnist Joseph Sabino Mistick claimed there are now nihilists in the House Republican Party (“Kevin McCarthy and the GOP nihilists” Jan. 14, TribLIVE). He was referring to the 20 House members who “wrecked McCarthy’s plans to smoothly assume” speaker of the House. Nihilists, as most know, are people with no principles or morals. They believe in nothing.

Mistick has got things backwards. The so-called nihilists held their vote until certain principles/rules were adopted. They negotiated for no increase in spending without a corresponding decrease in current spending; no omnibus spending bills; a 72-hour review period before voting on new legislation; and a balanced budget within 10 years. There were other rules and principles put into place that will help provide for more responsible government. I’ll leave to readers to say if that’s believing in nothing.

Mistick quotes several headlines about nihilism and the Republican Party, but the only source he mentions is MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. According to Mistick, Hayes reported McCarthy and Republicans have a “secret” slideshow that shows they want to cut Social Security. Hayes quoted several individuals as saying Republicans want to reduce/eliminate Social Security. The only proof he offers is a picture of a slide that reads, “Reforms to Budget Process and Mandatory Spending Programs.” So what we have is Mistick using hearsay and a report containing hearsay as fact.

The only fact is Social Security is broken and needs to be reformed. It’s the Republicans who want to fix it, but Democrats and the left keep using scare tactics and avoiding the issue.

Tom Cerra

Latrobe