Childishness under the Capitol Dome
March 6, 2024 | Tags: PRICE OF LIBERTY
The story linked below is hilarious but points out some vital truths.
We are used to a constant stream of childish behavior in the US Capitol, but this is not about the idiocracy in DC. Rather, that found in Pierre, the capital city of South Dakota.
Seems a couple of GOP types in the Senate had tried to honor Nancy Green (Aunt Jemima in lore and marketing) for being erased as politically incorrect several years ago. It was clearly a political statement and popular (and fun). But another GOP type in the House objected to it, and so nothing was done.
So one of the GOP senators decided to “thank” the GOP representative by giving her a gift. He walked into the House chambers and set a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup on her desk.
Oh my, the horror if it! How evil, how insulting, how improper! So she pulled up a little known rule and got the Speaker of the House to BAN the erring senator from the House floor and lobby. Lucy yanked the ball out from in front of Charlie once again.
Duly chastened, the erring senator has penned a personal apology letter to the irate representative: we don’t know if she has accepted it or will instead ask for him to be drawn and quartered on the front steps of the Statehouse.
Besides the childishness? What points are to be made?
First, too many politicians, especially those who have it proven (at least to themselves) that the voters have made them demigods (at least), take themselves far too seriously. This woman being an perfect example of that nonsense.
Second, some people are just natural Lucy types: looking for any opportunity to get one over, be deathly offended, and strike out childishly at those around them. I like her to the playground bully who is too cowardly to tell the other person they are upset and instead races to tattle to the teacher or playground monitor over some perceived slight.
Third, these are the childish clowns that most Americans – including most in South Dakota – trust to tell us how to run our lives? Really? What utter foolishness it is to believe that winning a popularity contest makes them smarter, wiser, and better than the teens goofing off in the outdoor basketball court. Or hanging out at the pool!
Fourth, while there is nothing wrong with trying to make a point – even a political point – about some recognized injustice or unfair treatment – in today’s hate-filled and victim-mentality climate, we have to be prepared to be treated like dirt. And we will be.
As legislatures go, South Dakota is blessed by a number of things. They can only meet 35 or 40 days a year. They all have real lives and jobs to go back to. They are not permanent threats to our pocketbooks and sanity year-round. (Unlike, say, California or Colorado.) They generally are level-headed, even if the GOP is so incredibly dominant that internal factions and fusses create as many or more problems than the GOP/conservative and Demo/progressive confrontation of the nation. Although because the GOP is so powerful in SD, one of the big problems is that even by loose standards of conservatives, many GOP members of the legislature are RINOs – or ROCs (Republicans of Convenience) who are often more liberal than Democrats. (Or at least 1990s Democrats.)
The offended representative “represents” a West River district – and was appointed by Governor Kristi Noem to replace anothe Republican who resigned because one of her companies accepted federal COVID bailout funds while she was in the legislature – a violation of law. (She paid it all back, by the way.) It appears that Noem made a poor choice.
But above all, it shows that we must never let these people run our lives – and need to take that power away. Not just in Pierre and 49 other State capitols but in DC.
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