We the People are Responsible for They the Congress

"Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature..."

James A. Garfield
from his speech given at the Republican Convention in 1880

As the House of Representatives enters what will hopefully be the final week of trying to ram health care legislation down the throats of the American citizenry, Mr. Garfield's words should be a wake-up call to every one of us in this Land of the Free. Polling numbers clearly show the approval rating of Congress to be at an all-time low; so low in fact, it's a surprise to this writer that more of them are not bailing out to head for the hills. Clearly the anti-health care sentiment, combined with the unprecedented deficit spending and power grabbing of Washington are driving these low poll numbers. America has said in no uncertain terms it wants no part of what our current federal government is trying to get done. The poll numbers are the good news.

But.... there is bad news to go along with it: The American people seem as yet unwilling to take the blame for the mess we find ourselves in. Ultimately it rests at our feet; the voters who year-in and year-out continue to vote for men and women known to be corrupt. We allow Barney Frank to remain in office even after his gay lover was busted for running a prostitute ring out of his Washington apartment. We gloss over Ted Kennedy's likely drunken accident which killed Mary Jo Kopechne; Charlie Rangel's financial fraud; John Ensign's extra-marital affair; Hillary Clinton's campaign fraud which has resulted in jail time for several of her associates; the jail sentence earned by the lovely and gracious Monica Conyers for a bribery conviction (her husband, Rep. John Conyers claims ignorance of the whole matter despite being charged with ethic violations of is own); and on, and on it goes.

Does this make any logical sense?

When we elect men and women who have a weak moral compass, if they have one at all, they govern with that same moral compass. They will not suddenly decide one day they need to change their ways because they now are members of Congress. Quite to the contrary, many of them view their Congressional jobs as a license to be even more corrupt than they previously were. And we tolerate it.

Garfield's first description of an undesirable Congress fits our current national legislative body like a tailor-made glove. They are ignorant. Ignorant of what the Constitution says and how it limits their authority; ignorant of the history of other nations who have gone down the same path we are headed for; ignorant, and unbelievably so I might add, of what's contained in the very legislation they vote on. Just for the record, last summer's Senate committee meetings exposed one Senator and Representative after another who never read the text of the health care bill they were voting on. How can that be?

Our Congress is also reckless. Reckless to the point that they are racking up trillion dollar deficits which are neither sustainable nor able to ever be paid off. With no thought of their posterity three and four generations away, members of Congress are willing to spend unlimited amounts of money in order to purchase the ballot box; fiscal responsibility be damned.

They are reckless with our national security when they attempt to restrict the war effort or launch a media attack to create negative public opinion against a President who is working to keep us safe. Equally reckless are those members of Congress who travel to foreign lands on behalf of the United States when they have no constitutional authority to do so, undermining the foreign policy initiatives that are the domain of the White House.

As for being corrupt, does that need further explanation? I do not remember a time in my forty-four plus years when government at all levels was as corrupt as it is today. I used to get frustrated at my friends and family twenty years ago who believed all politicians are corrupt, yet I must admit I am much closer to joining their camp today. While I am smart enough to know there are still a handful of Washington politicians who remain clean, even that "cleanliness" comes with a caveat. If they know of the corruption of their fellow politicians and do nothing in an attempt to have them removed and/or prosecuted, they are part and parcel to the corruption. It is unfathomable to me that there are no Representatives with the courage to force corruption charges against Charlie Rangel; tax fraud charges against Timothy Geithner; or campaign finance charges against Hillary Clinton.

When all is said and done I agree with Mr. Garfield's assessment that our Congress is a reflection of us. The days of honesty, integrity, and a good name are long gone it seems. Selfishness at levels once deemed unreachable have turned our nation into a morally relativistic society that cares little about honesty unless it can be used to our advantage. Oh, how far we have fallen since the days of Patrick Henry's "give me liberty" mentality.

The most disturbing part of this whole issue is the blindness of the general population. We believe we have progressed in our liberty and freedom when in reality, we have willfully stretched out our hands to the shackles of moral depravity. To satisfy an unending sexual appetite we are chained to abortion, aids, and the break-up of the family. To satisfy the lust for pleasure and drown the resulting guilt we have sold our souls to drugs, alcohol, and any number of other addictions. To keep up with the Joneses we have shackled our future to prison of debt from which there is no parole. In short, we are giving away our liberty in exchange for the temporary pleasures of self.

And we wonder why government behaves the same way?

If our Congress is ever to return to the once noble and honorable institution of two centuries ago, we the citizens must make a change at home. Not until our character changes will our leaders feel a need to change themselves. Not until we stop tolerating ignorance, recklessness, and corruption at home will we be able to see intelligence, bravery, and purity return to our government institutions.

I hope and pray we will change course soon.


Sources:
America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, William J. Federer, FAME Publishing, Inc.; pgs. 256-257