Posted on 12/31/2003 1:08:00 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
"[I]t is the tragedy of all collectivisms that the most unscrupulous and most ruthless member is most likely to rise to the position of leadership, certainly when leadership means power," reflected Dr. J.B. Matthews, one-time director of research for congressional counter-subversion committees, in his memoir Odyssey of a Fellow Traveler. "The organization of vast political power and its successful retention in a single hand is more likely than not to put a premium upon qualities which we commonly associate with the ‘big shots’ of gangsterism."
Harvard Professor Pitirim Sorokin made much the same observation in a survey of rulers throughout history, noting that "the rulers of the states are the most criminal group in a respective population." And Mark Twain was on the same wavelength when he described Congress as our "distinctly native American criminal class."
In light of the foregoing wisdom, it’s not surprising to learn that gangster tactics were used by the Republican Party leadership to pass the landmark Medicare prescription drug legislation — a major new entitlement that will cost $400 billion over the first 10 years, and possibly much more if the new law is amended in the meantime. Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) has described this legislation as "the single largest expansion of the federal welfare state since the Great Society programs of the 1960s." The administration of George W. Bush desperately wanted the new entitlement program as a way of securing the senior citizen vote in 2004, even though it would leave future generations burdened with unpayable debt.
To give the president time to pressure conservative holdouts, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) prolonged the roll-call vote for an unprecedented three hours. "Members were promised pork barrel projects," reports Stephen Moore of the American Conservative Union. "They were threatened with primary challengers." With time running out, "the White House and the Whip team tried one more desperation tactic": Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Butch Otter (R-Idaho) "were told that if they didn’t change their votes, the president would immediately instruct the House leadership to pass the Democratic version of the bill — which was infinitely worse than even this bill." Both Franks and Otter relented.
But Rep. Nick Smith of Michigan, who plans to retire next year, refused to succumb to presidential intimidation. So the Republican Party leadership took a page from a playbook favored by a different kind of criminal syndicate: The Mob.
Smith’s son Brad "is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him," reported columnist Robert Novak. "On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father’s vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress."
Commentator Timothy Noah points out that USC Title 18 sec. 201 defines "bribery" as, among other things, "promis[ing] any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent to influence any official act...." Accordingly, Smith — in addition to being the victim of political blackmail — "was an eyewitness to a federal crime," concludes Noah. That crime, though it is a serious one, is trivial compared to the grotesque act of larceny that was the Medicare expansion itself.
No biggie...right?
But who else is their to vote for?
I have the option of socialist A or Socialist B.
At last he is a socialist making an effort to thwart terrorisms.
If I have a choice between someone who punches me in the nose three times, versus someone who shoots me in the thigh with a .45, is that really a choice? Yeah, one's better, but. . .
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