(Deep breath.)
The quality of our representatives says a lot about what’s going on. Just compare approval ratings to incumbency, then wait for your fucking head to explode. It boggles the mind how we as a country consistently put our most corrupt and inept forward. I say “we” because we are all responsible. One thing that crosses political divides is the general consensus throughout the country that our elected representatives suck balls. Even the supposedly good and honest politicians are unable to rise above the muck that is the United States Congress. This isn’t news, though. It’s no surprise when Congress fucks up.
The only thing that amazes me is when they’re able to set the bar even lower—so imagine my surprise when I heard about this: http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/are-you-serious-69740987.html. Essentially, when asked what part of the Constitution grants Congress the authority to order Americans to buy health insurance, Speaker Nancy Pelosi promptly told the reporter who asked the question to fuck off. Actually, her response was, “Are you serious? Are you serious?” She asked twice so that it would have that much more impact when she ignored the reporter. See, she couldn’t just ignore the question outright—because that would imply that she was hiding, or was in some way embarrassed by a complete dismissal of the Constitution. She wanted to make clear to everyone in attendance that she gives fuck all about some dipshit reporter, and silly questions about “delegated powers” and “Constitutional authority.” The Constitution? She has a framed copy on her wall. Of course, it also says “to Serve and Protect” on the side of all cop cars…
Apparently, Nancy is taking the “it’s just a goddamned piece of paper” approach to interpreting the Constitution. This isn’t surprising. Most politicians’ view of the Constitution seems to be like most religious people’s view of the Bible. It’s something they completely believe in and live their life by, but don’t bother reading. A quick flip through should be good enough, but no need to go too in-depth. You see, if you read either document it comes down to either rejecting it outright or having to live within the boundaries it creates. Anyone who has read the Bible will realize that there are very few people who are willing to live within those boundaries. Much like the Constitution, it didn’t allow people to do whatever they wanted. A good example is a certain king and his commitment issues. Want to get divorced, but the church tells you nope because it’s not in the Bible? Say “fuck it” and make a new church. If you want to guess as to whether congressional representatives are staying within boundaries created by the Constitution, refer to Nancy Pelosi’s response. Are you serious? Are you serious?
Congress will swear on the Constitution and talk about its importance. They will extol the greatness of America, the founding fathers, and that goddamn piece of paper. Much like Christians and the Bible, however, if you ask them what it says or means they will tell you what they want from it, or what they want it to mean. A good example comes from the op ed where I originally read all this. “Well, that’s under certainly the laws of the — protect the health, welfare of the country,” said Sen. Roland Burris, Barack Obama’s appointed replacement to the U.S. Senate, in answer to the same question. As the writer of the article points out, the word health does not even appear in the Constitution. It is Roland Burris, though. On a side note, running into that jackass on the hill must be like running into an inbred kid at a family reunion. He’s slow, annoying, and you don’t even want to think about the sin against nature that allowed him to come into existence.
Is it too much to ask that the people elected to congress read and understand the key document of our entire government? It’s not like this is a remedial literature class at the local community college, and people can just pick up the cliff notes ’cause this shit won’t matter. Want to know what reading the cliff notes will do? It’ll turn a government based on a blend of republic, democratic, and even monarchial ideals into just a straight democracy. By watching our government at work, you would think they had not even heard the word republic before. Remember learning in high school about how the founding fathers, realizing that all forms of government were flawed, included several forms of government in our Constitution? If you don’t, don’t worry about it—because chances are, the person speaking on your behalf doesn’t either. I honestly wonder how many United States Senators realize that the US Senators were not always elected by popular vote.
Now this has absolutely nothing to do with the health care debate or political parties. It’s not about who’s right or wrong. It’s simply about the Speaker of the House not only refusing to answer a simple question about Constitutionality of legislation, but also being so dismissive and derogatory as to suggest that she is beyond questioning. The sad thing is that there are probably Democrats feeling justified because of the treatment given out when the Bush administration was in power. I know the Republicans are feeling vindicated because the Democrats are looking to be just as bad. The losers are the vast majority, sitting in the middle, watching one side give away our rights because they’re scared of terrorists, while the other sacrifices them on the alter of altruism to assuage their conscience. I’ve actually met people in favor of health care who admitted that it was probably going to be a colossal cluster fuck, but think we should do it anyway and fix it later. This is probably a fairly common opinion. Every time I see coverage, it’s about the bill passing, can the democrats get the bill through, will the republicans block the bill. It’s like it’s a fucking football they are trying to jam up the middle so they can get a touchdown.
People who think that the Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper that can be ignored at will should remember that being able to ignore parts means being able to ignore the whole. People that say it’s outdated and ill equipped to deal with the modern world need to remember that there are built in ways to change it. This was done because nothing is infallible or beyond the touch of time. It’s also good that it’s hard to do, because it should not be an easy thing to give away people’s rights, or the protection of their rights. When you agree to give away others’ rights and ignore the rule of law, you are giving away your own rights and the protection of the rule of law to whatever group happens to be in power. So don’t be surprised when the wind shifts to put a new group of sanctimonious jackasses in charge, and you find yourself standing on a box, wearing only a black hood, with a Die Hard car battery hooked up to your happy place. You know what? Congress may be a group of college-educated tributes to nepotism, and I may be just some foulmouthed, semi-educated loser with an axe to grind; but I’m willing to say yes. Yes, I am serious.