PrintFebruary 19, 2011
Mockery of Democracy - the Wayward Senators of Wisconsin
I ran away from home once, ten years old.
Stole twenty bucks to cover expenses until I could get a job. Took the train from Piscataway to Plainfield. Night time came, with it the cold, and the hole in my plan became clear.
Back home, her husband asked, "Where's the money?"
I had nothing to show for it, having blown it on food and foolishness. I took from my pockets the few remaining coins, and a couple cones of incense.
"What the hell is that?" he said.
"Incense."
Looked at it, looked at me. His arm drew back. "Incense? Boy, you got no sense."
Bam! Boom!
True story, that.
I remembered it last night, as I watched the story of the Wayward Wisconsin Senators unfold. I was just a dumb kid when I ran away, what's their excuse?
I recalled the arrogant words of a petulant president, appalled that anyone would dare question his abomination of a health care plan. "The election is over, John." You lost, deal with it.
Does the same not apply to his own party? From his comments on the issue, apparently not.
Leadership flows from the top down. Is it any wonder an administration that began with the president disgracing our country by going on an international apology tour has degenerated to this, his minions disgracing us at state-level?
There is no clause in the Constitution to cover the reprobate deed of these pariahs. The founding fathers, in their worst nightmares, could not foresee the process they constructed as the foundation of this nation polluted by contemptible cowards such as these.
On CNN, John Nichols of The Nation referred to them as heroes, with fighters' spirits. Running away? Hiding? In what Bizarro World does this pass as courage?
They hijacked the political process. They made a mockery of democracy.
Elected to a job they abandoned, swore an oath to a duty they shirked.
In a child's world it's called running away from home, and is reason for a beating.
In the employment world it's called not showing up, and is reason for termination.
In the peace time military it's called desertion, and is reason for criminal proceedings. In war, deserters have been executed.
What shall we call it in government, circa 2011? What shall we say of these senators of Wisconsin?
Call it the exposure of the depths to which radical progressives will resort.
Call it a national disgrace, an international embarrassment.
Call them puerile adults who ran away. The hole in their plan the same as the one in mine so many years ago - sooner or later you have to go home.
My punishment was just. What would be justice for these runaways?
