DEAR EDITOR:

In the Jan. 8 Vindicator, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is quoted saying he will launch an investigation into the U.S. Capitol Police for what he called the agency’s “severe systemic failure.”

This letter is no commentary on what happened in the Capitol or why, or even how. But “systemic?” What? How?

Also on Jan. 8, Gus Papathanasiou, head of the Capitol Police union, is reported as saying this was the first breach of the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812. Some of the congressman’s fellow Democrats said the same.

So in Tim Ryan’s world, from 1812 to 2021 is “systemic?”

If you live in the 13th Congressional District and you don’t agree with Mr. Ryan politically, that’s fine. He’s still our representative. But no one should tolerate a politician who throws out jargon words like “systemic” because he thinks they sound important or cool.

Words have meaning. Ryan’s choice of words sounds like a high school junior who is trying to add a smart-sounding, but meaningless, term into his social studies paper.

That is too bad because I have a friend who knows him personally and speaks well of him. But being a politician and being intelligent do not go hand-in-hand, as we all know by now.

SCOTT C. ESSAD

Boardman