I’ll bet that if you were alive during the Revolutionary War you would have scolded the patriots for sneaking around hiding behind trees and firing at the British instead of marching in formation properly and politely like they did.
Our liberty and lives are at risk here. I am not worried about any perceived respect given to plaster and marble. I’m more concerned about my children and grandchildren who will have to live as slaves under this tyranny. If a few protocols have to be broken in the process so be it. Better than a few million heads in civil war.
When I hear people speaking like you are I fear that you have no real grasp of the seriousness of the situation.
You appear to be conflating combat engagements with conduct on the floor of one of the single most historic and hallowed institutions in the nation.
When revolutionaries - the very ones who were at that very moment preparing to orchestrate the killing of thousands of British soldiers - went to England to petition the king and the parliament, they behaved as consummate gentlemen, not as boors.
Richard Penn, descendant of the founder of Pennsylvania, was one of the delegates who delivered the final appeal of the Olive Branch petition to the Secretary of State for the American Colonies, Lord Dartmouth, on August 21, 1775. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were two of the petition's authors.
MOST EXCELLENT SOVERIEIGN: We your Majesty's faithful subjects of the colonies of New-hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode island and Providence plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, in behalf of ourselves and the inhabitants of these colonies, who have deputed us to represent them in general Congress, entreat your Majesty's gracious attention to this our humble petition.
I have a very clear grasp of the seriousness of the situation, but I happen to believe that it has no bearing on ancient and respected traditions of decorum.
I feel exactly the same way when the Democrats repeatedly stain the dignity of Congress and the Office of the Presidency with their conduct. President Bush didn't permit anyone to even enter the Oval Office without a jacket and tie:
“I’ll never forget going to work on a Saturday morning, getting called down to the Oval Office because there was something he was mad about,” said Dan Bartlett, who was counselor to Mr. Bush. “I had on khakis and a buttoned-down shirt, and I had to stand by the door and get chewed out for about 15 minutes. He wouldn’t even let me cross the threshold.”
As former Bush staffer Andrew Card put it, it's about respect:
Mr. Card went on to add that, while he would not criticize Mr. Obama for his appearance, “I do expect him to send the message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with the respect that it has earned over history.”