The power center of the world has turned into an embarrassing food fight.
Grown-ups who are supposed to represent “the people” are instead representing their own petty grievances. These House representatives are not interested in legislating; they’re more out to punish one another.
“Some House lawmakers want their colleagues punished, and it’s driving everyone else a little mad,” The Wall Street Journal reported last week. “Members demanded a series of votes to censure or otherwise denounce colleagues this week, and one threatened an expulsion, all taking advantage of a House rule that allows any single lawmaker to get a vote on a privileged resolution.”
It’s bad enough that these grown-ups shut down the government for nearly two months. One would think that when they returned, they would feel contrite and double down on their work. Not exactly. Like kids throwing a temper tantrum, they doubled down on their grudges.
“With the House back in town this month after 54 days out of session, interpersonal dramas and long-running feuds burst into the open, sometimes turning members against their own parties, and leadership was largely powerless to stop it,” the Journal reported.
One member called a colleague a “piece of s–t” and “coward” to his face, according to members who overheard the exchange, the Journal reported. “Some members said they had never seen anything like it.”
Imagine a group of schoolchildren on a civics field trip to our nation’s capital. While touring the House of Representatives, they see grown-ups yelling and insulting one another.
What are these kids supposed to think? These guys are worse than us?!
It’s almost immaterial to get into specific beefs– nothing justifies this shameless spectacle. We can’t even blame the usual culprit of vicious partisanship. Evidently, members are also going after their own.
“Many lawmakers are growing weary of the chaotic stream of punitive resolutions, which ramped up to new heights this week, shifting from Republicans punishing Democrats to Republicans targeting Republicans and Democrats vs. Democrats as well,” the Journal reported. “The use of such tools has become increasingly common, in a sign of the toxicity in the Capitol.”
This ugliness, of course, is nothing new: Congressional infighting has been a mainstay of our republic since our founding.
What is most disconcerting today is an utter absence of shame at a time when social media can expose your every move in seconds. We’ve lowered the bar on collective embarrassment.
Sure, no one wants to get caught doing something criminal. But this isn’t about crime. It’s about using arcane rules to get away with doing something you know is wrong..
We talk a lot about incompetent political leadership and the crumbling of people’s trust in our politicians. But we don’t talk enough about the example these leaders are setting for the next generation. What will this new generation take from today’s leaders? Cynicism?
I’m sure there are politicians who still take their jobs and responsibilities seriously. The problem is that it is the irresponsible bullies who make most of the noise and get the attention. And God knows there are too many of those.
I’d love to see a video of schoolchildren addressed to those reckless grown-ups playing the role of politicians in Congress.
A simple message will do:
“Aren’t you guys ashamed of yourselves? What kind of example are you setting for us with all this petty infighting? It’s time you grow up and start doing some real work on our behalf. Either that or we promise you’ll get a very long time-out.”
