Monday, January 10, 2011

Why does the NYT hate America?

No, really. I want to know.
Those who had hoped to see a glimpse of the much-advertised Republican plan to revive the economy and put Americans back to work will have to wait at least until party leaders finish their Beltway insider ritual of self-glorification. Then, they may find time for governing.

The empty gestures are officially intended to set a new tone in Washington, to demonstrate — presumably to the Republicans’ Tea Party supporters — that things are about to be done very differently. But it is far from clear what message is being sent by, for instance, reading aloud the nation’s foundational document. Is this group of Republicans really trying to suggest that they care more deeply about the Constitution than anyone else and will follow it more closely?

In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understand the true meaning of a text that the founders wisely left open to generations of reinterpretation. Certainly the Republican leadership is not trying to suggest that African-Americans still be counted as three-fifths of a person.
So, what you're saying is that the constitution is out of date and irrelevant and should be ignored as a matter of official policy, rather than the current tacit practice. Gotcha.

Wow. Even I don't have that much contempt for the document, and I'm a freakin' anarchist whackjob.

Do I think this new republican idea will do any positive good? Oh, hell no. The republicans are at least the enemies of freedom that the democrats are. But I must admit, my first reaction when I heard about the reading was to wonder why they haven't started each session this way all along. After all, this is the document they supposedly swore to support and defend. You'd think they'd want to at least nod at it respectfully as they enter the room, before commencing to ignore it for the remainder of the session.

3 comments:

Big Wooly said...

I agree completely, Joel. The Constitution should be read aloud at the beginning of every new Congress, posted on the walls, and chained to the table in front of every seat! And if I might suggest, a copy of the document should be shellacked to a very distinguished baseball bat and used on every member that forgets who it's for and why it's there!

Anonymous said...

Yep. I agree Joel and BW.
Except for the baseball bat part.
There are way too many lampposts in The District of Criminals that could solve the problem with much less mess inside the buildings.

Term Limits.

That is what the Founders forgot to put in the document.
Until we remove the word politician from the US lexicon we will continue to have this 'abuse of power' BS.
Humans are way too susceptible to the glitter and flash.[for the most part or so it appears]

gooch

Ken Hagler said...

Term limits just mean that the politicians have to loot faster.