An Open Letter to Congress

Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Who do you think you are?

No, really - who? Do you think your positions of power are guaranteed, given to you by an accident of birth, with no expectation of performance or accountability? Do you think that you are exempt from actually executing on the tasks that were hired to do?

Clearly that is what you think, as demonstrated by your complete inability to accomplish the tasks you were hired to do.

It must be nice, to have a well-paying, professional job where you can spend all your time pursuing your own agenda with no thought to the mission of the organization. If I had that kind of gig, I could spend every working hour reading, knitting, exercising, doing homework and otherwise fucking off. Doing those things would certainly move my own personal agenda forward, and based on your stellar example, it must be okay, right?

Unfortunately, the military industrial complex doesn't agree with your assessment of an appropriate work ethic. If I was to spend my time in the same way you do, I can assure you that I'd be out on my ass, and right fucking now.

You're able to get away with such shenanigans because you assume that people will forget what petulant children you are come election time. And unfortunately, history implies that you're correct in that assumption. But I can assure you that I won't forget. When November 2014 rolls around, I will remember how very unprofessional you were, how you chose to put your ideological goals ahead of the good of the country, how kowtowing to the strident minority was more important than serving your constituencies. Yes, I'll remember, and you can rest assured that I'll be reminding everyone I know, and everyone I don't know.

It's the least I can do, after everything you've done for me.

9 comments:

Juan Federico said...

Yes Exactly. I too will remember and remind.

Eric said...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But this is largely the House Of Representatives we're talking about.

They aren't expecting to get away with these shenanigans because people will forget what petulant children they are: they're expecting, and probably rightly, to get away with these shenanigans because they will be running for reelection in heavily-gerrymandered, extremely non-competitive Congressional districts in which their tantrums play well as political theatre, or in which their local political machine is so well-entrenched and there are enough sympathetic voters or donors that moderate rivals won't bother running a (long shot) primary against them.

It is worse than, "Will they be punished for this?" That is the wrong question: the proper question is "Will they be rewarded for this?" Because they may be. At least in the House: in the Senate and for the White House, where elections are statewide, their party may be punished while they are reelected.

No, it's even worse than that: no doubt some of the House Republicans have their eyes on bigger prizes, whether in politics or in the private sector, and their real audience consists of people like the Koch Brothers and the asshats at the Heritage Foundation. A Representative who has poisoned his home well so badly he decides not to face a primary opponent in favor of "spending more time with his family" and taking a "consulting" job--one that just happens to pay seven or eight figures for a workday that consists mostly of playing golf, having lunch, and returning phone calls--will be crying all the way to the bank, no doubt.

We need an overhaul of the whole goddamn system. We have the best system of government the 18th Century had to offer, but even if we could trade in our elected officials, that would just be a matter of changing the air freshner hanging from the rearview when what we need is a newer model car. Which I have no idea how we get our hands on.

Janiece said...

Eric, while I recognize that your analysis is probably right on the money, it's too depressing for me to think about it.

Anne C. said...

Ugh... is about all I can muster to Eric's well reasoned rant. :(

Eric said...

Sorry. :(

Janiece said...

Eric, never apologize for talking about reality.

Terry said...

Congress members should have to make up the pay gap, out of their own pockets, for the government employees that are being forced into unpaid work furloughs. By and large those employees are just average citizens trying to support their families. You know that there is no chance in hell the congresspeople are going to have a gap in their pay, that is just crazy talk.

Beatrice Desper said...

Forbid campaign contributions -- make the government pay for elections -- that'd be a start. But, then again, these people already received too many contributions to do that.

Steve Buchheit said...

Most of the people driving this are in "safe" districts (i.e.. gerrymandered to be un-loseable for a specific party). They'll be able to raise more money for re-election (and "educational" trips to the Bahamas) on their newsletters where they'll say they "stood up to the President and his out of control spending." Unfortunately the one group dedicated to removing incumbents (the TP) is the group behind all this and are the ones most proud of "having less government."

So the most I see happening, like Eric, is the party will lose control at the state level (which they already expected to do anyway, which is why they've been rushing their agenda through where ever they can).