Thursday, January 06, 2011

The Constitution and the House floor: are you $#*&#ing kidding me?!?!

So, the first day back to work and what do the members of the lower chamber decide to do? They decide to recite the U.S. Constitution into the Congressional Record. Congratulations! The members of your body now know about as much about the legal machinations of our government as the average middle school civics student!

Grandstanding is certainly nothing new to politics, but this has lowered the bar to Lilliputian levels. I hope some House members realize that all 44 Presidents in this country's history have signed DOZENS of bills into law since the Constitution was ratified in 1787 (except poor William Henry Harrison, of course; the poor guy died only 32 days after his inauguration). To keep up their Constitutional fidelity, I trust the House leadership will immediately begin reading every piece of legislation passed during the George Washington Administration. This is only fair if they want a complete picture of our nation's legislative history.

Reading the Constitution and its 27 Amendments and claiming to have a command of the U.S. body politic is akin to someone claiming to be a master of the Star Wars Trilogy after simply watching the opening sequence of Darth Vader boarding the rebel ship at the beginning of the original movie (Episode IV: A New Hope for those of you keeping score at home).

I have a simple message for the House leadership: go back and hit the books some more. You have two more years before your final exams and you're nowhere near ready.