The Indignity
I wish I could claim credit for today’s punchline, but I can’t. By the time I got wind of the news article, other acquaintances on the same newslist had delivered the obvious rejoinder.
“GOP congressmen quit because of five-day work week.
“Nine Republican congressmen have so far announced that they will not be running for re-election. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), complained ‘that the Democrats’ new five-day workweek’ is part of the reason they’re all retiring:
‘I do think the schedule and the flying is a huge pain for people, particularly those who are from the Midwest or even further West,” he said, adding that it’s “probably the worst part of the job.’
‘I think that has played into these retirement announcements,’ said the seven-term congressman from Peoria.”
Congressman LaHood’s analysis notwithstanding, we won’t know for a long while, if ever, why those congressmen are resigning.
They may be in danger of scandal or even prosecution over some appalling criminal behavior, and getting out before it gets printed. Heaven knows there’s enough scandal to go around.
They may be in danger of scandal over a peccadillo, but getting ejected from some voice on high: “Get out before you embarrass us like Larry Craig did.”
They may be cutting their political losses by fleeing what they estimate to be a sinking ship, figuring the public will direct a healthy dollop of rage against Bush and company against any Republican they can find.
They may estimate the pillaging of the national treasury and vital national functions have progressed far enough that it’s time to head for the private sector themselves, go get while there’s still some shred of the federal budget left to steal for themselves.
They may even have suffered pangs of conscience, and look to resignation to absolve their participation in the ongoing sabotage of the Republic. Don’t bet on it, and the time for conscience was before the rape of the Constitution, but it’s technically possible.
Sadly for the candor of our leaders, none of those reasons look too good in print, do they? Better to fall back on the desire to spend more time with the family…now, when it matters most, at LaHood’s age of 61, when the children are in those formative years in their thirties and forties. But why stop there, when you can get in a final dig at the Democrats? That mean old Pelosi and her gang, with their slave-driver mentality, are demanding an actual 40-hour work week.
We’re fighting a war, for chrissakes. It’s the soldiers who should be held in the field indefinitely without leave. Let their families and psyches crack up; that’s what they signed on for. But our poor representatives have suffered enough. They can’t be expected to work hard just because they launched our nation into chaos. And now Clinton is calling for all citizens to get the same medical benefits a congressman does. It’s more than a congressman can bear.
Clearly, as we have been told, there are jobs American’s aren’t willing to take, no matter how good the pay and perks. Why don’t we import some of those greasy wetbacks to fill the seats going vacant? Or even to some Democrats—they’re almost as desperate.