We like to think the women and men we select to represent us in public office go there to work in the best interests of their constituents. Not just their Republican or Democratic constituents, but their state and districts as a whole. Sometimes that means going along with the majority. Other times it means using common sense and experience to set an example for the voters who put you in office and even lead them in a different direction, if necessary.

Roger Marshall, who took the oath of office this past weekend to become the junior senator from Kansas, has done neither.

Only days after he promised to uphold the Constitution, the Great Bend Republican planned to join about a dozen other senators and support Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s objection to President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

“We do not take this action lightly We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it: Marshall said in a news release.

“Every one of us should act together to ensure that the election was lawfully conducted under the Constitution and to do everything we can to restore faith in our Democracy:’

Unfortunately, Marshall and his cohorts have done just the opposite. Their opposition to Biden was expected to amount to a symbolic protest against the election outcome. The message they have sent to many voters is that our political system can’t be trusted. Not even after numerous recounts and investigations and a tape with President Trump trying to coerce the Georgia secretary of state into “finding” enough votes to make him instead of Biden the winner there.

For those who don’t agree, take a moment and imagine Hillary Clinton in the role of Donald Trump. We suspect Marshall would suddenly become a staunch believer in our election system, even without the help of Congress.

Meanwhile, over the past week, Kansas has averaged 2,545 new cases per day of the coronavirus, an increase of 14 percent from the average two weeks earlier, according to a running tally kept by the New York Times.

It’s only the first week of the new year and 2021 already is beginning to look at lot like 2020.