Pride Goeth Before the Fall

The seven deadly sins are commonly known: Extravagance, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. While many in government of all political stripes love to indulge in many of these, it's become quite clear that Pride is the current favorite of the Democrats. The pride of course starts at the top (remember BOH's "humble" acceptance of his party's presidential nomination that was followed by his boast that his nomination marked the time when the seas began to recede, blah, blah, blah?), but now seems to have flowed all the way down to even lowly congressional aids.

The past few days have treated us to two more examples of this pride.

First we had Barbara Boxer, dressing down a Brig General for not calling her "senator." The general was answering the regal Boxer's question, when he made the mistake of starting the answer with "ma'am." Boxer cut him off and whined: "Do me a favor, can you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am'? It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it. Thank you." Give me a break. Yeah you've worked so hard. It must be really hard getting elected in California when you're politically to the left of Stalin. It must also be really hard spending other people's money and passing bills that you haven't read.

The first thing that jumps out at me is her utter ignorance. Using the term "ma'am" is military protocol to show respect. The general referred to the male senators in that same meeting as "sir."

The next thing that jumps out at me is her dripping arrogance and pride. A senator is supposed to be a "public servant" right? Instead, because of her huge salary and copious perks, Boxer has come to see herself as somehow superior and she's obviously not the only senator in congress to suffer from this malady. What makes her and other senators' arrogance all the more surprising is that they don't notice that most citizens hold them in contempt. As low as Pres. Bush's approval ratings were, the approval rating of Congress is even lower. Their popularity rating resides somewhere between used car salesmen and the H1N1 virus. Instead of petulantly whining about being addressed respectfully as ma'am, Boxer should be kissing the feet of a member of our military that has preserved Boxer's right to make an ass of herself. I'll tell what Barb, I'm sure that a majority of Americans have a title in mind for you and it's not nearly as respectful as "ma'am."

If the arrogance and pride of Congress aren't enough, how about the pride of congressional aids? When dealing with Elizabeth Becton, aid to Jim McDermott (D-Wash), you better be sure you call her by her full name. Otherwise, you're in for a flurry emails that are sure to overwhelm you, as an executive assistant at one company found out. The assistant sent an email to Becton, trying to set up a meeting with Rep McDermott and representatives of JP Morgan Chase. Here is a brief excerpt from politico that explains what happened:

Days later, the assistant checked back in and unfortunately began the e-mail with “Hi Liz.”

Becton curtly replied, “Who is Liz?”

When the assistant wrote back with an apology, Becton turned up the heat. “I do not go by Liz. Where did you get your information?” she asked.

The back-and-forth went on for 19 e-mails, with the assistant apologizing six times if she had “offended” Becton, while Becton lectured about name-calling.

This garbage has got to stop. Our founding fathers (at least most of them, Hamilton being a possible exception) never envisioned a professional political class ruling this country. And this is what we have now: rulers instead of representatives or public servants.

Instead, they wanted our representatives to be fellow citizens who would serve a few years and then return to their normal lives. In this way, to paraphrase Thomas Paine, these people would have to go back into their own communities and go back into business so they would never vote a rod against themselves.

Today, however, more and more people go into government for life. For example, the before-mentioned McDermott has been in Congress since 1988 and was a Washington state senator from 1977-1987 (that's 31 years in government). He's no representative; he's a professional ruler. And there are scores of other congressmen just like him. These out-of-touch rulers are the main reason that vast numbers of Americans feel like the lady who wrote this letter: Open Letter to Our Nation's Leadership.

So what is to be done? Many have floated ideas that range from barring lawyers from serving in Congress to revoking the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. In my mind, the very least that needs to be done is to cut their pay and perks. Longer-term goals should be a term-limits amendment and a repeal of the 17th Amendment. Luckily, many are already pursuing these goals and have started grass-roots campaigns and other efforts. The Tea Parties are also providing platforms for these ideas and giving like-minded people opportunity to meet.

Proverbs tells us: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Hopefully, the pride and arrogance of today's leaders will compel more Americans to want to take back their government so that our leaders become public servants again rather than career rulers.