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Isn’t it nice to know that whenever America faces a big issue, Americans can always count on Congress to be there. For themselves, that is.
Take health care. Corporate-funded front groups churned out a mess of lies to foment public opposition to Obama’s rather modest insurance reform, demonizing it as a “government takeover” of our health care system. It was no such thing, but that hasn’t stopped Republican lawmakers from making a theatrical show of trying to repeal Obama’s reform and “save” the people from the horrors of socialized medicine.
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Yet, in all their blathering, none of them have offered to save themselves from the horrors of taxpayer-provided health care. Congress critters get Cadillac coverage at our expense, plus they have their own in-house bevy of government doctors to attend to them. Why don’t they vote to eliminate this privileged bastion of socialism?
Then there’s the real horror of gun violence that exploded most recently in Arizona. In response, members of congress rushed forward with creative solutions. It’s all about public safety, they exclaimed – by which they meant saving themselves from the public.
Rep. Peter King showed what he’s made of by introducing legislation making it a federal crime to carry a gun within the vicinity of a congressperson. Rep. Dan Burton proposed an emergency job-creation program, which would consist of immediately sealing off the House gallery with bulletproof glass to shield the skittish solons from the people. And a couple of members took a bold stand for individual responsibility by announcing that they would henceforth show their respect for constituents by packing pistols when going out amongst them.
Good grief, don’t they do enough damage by shooting off their mouths? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think members of Congress should be trusted with real guns.
“The president’s message – ‘We can be better’ – resonates,” Austin American Statesman, January 16, 2011.