Jared Golden

Rep. Jared Golden, in his final year as a member of the House of Representatives, cast the single vote needed to keep the American war of aggression in Iran going (“Jared Golden casts key vote with Republicans to defeat Iran war resolution,” April 16). It represents a continuation of his general voting record: unlimited bombs, unfailingly delivered.

What strikes me is one of Golden’s stated reasons for departing from politics: a reprehensible bomb threat made against him and a number of other Democratic lawmakers. One wonders if the irony is lost on him now. He cuts and runs at the mere threat of a fraction of the reality his voting record produces.

Rep. Golden cited the “increasing incivility and plain nastiness” of politics as his reason for leaving. Perhaps someday Palestinians, Iranians and the Lebanese can also choose to escape incivility and plain nastiness. They’ll have to wait until Golden is out of office first, to be sure.

Golden will be remembered, to the extent he will be remembered at all, as a cowardly representative among many who abdicated their duty to the rule of law and common decency at a critical moment in American history.

The kindly people of Maine deserved better. With luck, this fall, they may get it.