Posted by
Derek H on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 5:07:28 AM
Congress has always been pompous and elitist, but until dealing with
the current Republican opposition, I've never seen such ridiculous
demands. Imagine, being forced to read the actual laws that you are
passing that other Americans must follow. Such impudence. After all,
what are aides for, except to read the actual legislation and tell you
what your position on it should be? And to be subject to the
laws we pass? Totally unacceptable.
Why should I have to know the exact ramifications of the bill I am
endorsing? Isn't it enough that I know that my party's leadership
endorses it? After all, this is yet another "crisis" and if this isn't
dealt with immediately, the sky will fall and tyranny will reign
supreme. Plus, if I don't support this legislation, those special
interest groups like the unions might not support my next bid for
Congress. And then where would you be? You wouldn't have me
representing your interests. You might end up with a Republican, who won't consider all your individual circumstances when deciding how to allocate funds, just the overall greater good. We can't have that, can we?
An emergency requires immediate response (not thoughtful consideration
of all ramifications of the course of action). Of course, the
definition of what constitutes an emergency is entirely up to me, but
that is beside the point. As long as the media is willing to follow my
lead, the emergency is here. And we need to do something, anything.
So please panic, and let us do things that are totally
unconstitutional. They need to be done to avert this crisis. The ends justify the means. Never
mind that they set an entirely new precedent for governance. Never mind that like they overturn centuries of settled law and give benefits to unsecured creditors rather than secured ones (Chrysler). Never mind that they preempt the Constitution's checks and balances by allowing unelected, unaccountable people unprecedented control over private industry (the Czars). This is all just a temporary measure, like the New Deal reforms (which seem to still exist), to try to keep us out of another Depression.
We are the Government, and therefore we know what's best for you. You are totally incapable of managing your own lives, so we need to step in and do it for you. After all, what good is an Ivy-League education, political connections, and money if you can't tell everyone else how they should live their lives? If you were allowed to do whatever you wanted, you might compete with our media and education monopoly and start having young people question our ideas. That might imply that we don't know as much as we think. And we can't have that, can we?