The “Foolish” People of America

The hardworking and much-abused people of America are hopelessly naïve. They take for it for granted that they are entitled to a functional Constitution. They have the unrealistic expectation that their elected representatives are bound to honor their oath of office and to actually uphold and defend that Constitution.

These same ordinary Americans think the Bill of Rights should be there for them, their children and grandchildren. They have the chutzpah to believe that their elected leaders and representatives will obey the same laws that they do. Nothing can shake their innocent expectation that if these people betray the public trust and play fast and lose with the law, there should be swift and serious consequences.


They actually believe that congress is a separate and co-equal branch of government and that one of its primary functions is to restrain an overzealous Executive.

It goes without saying that the felons and megalomaniacs within the Bush administration do not share these beliefs and expectations. What we didn't expect is that the new Congress we elected to restrain BushCo would mock our faith in them and the system they are pledged to support. They are telling us that holding a criminal president and vice president accountable is a “waste of time”. They tell us that to even seriously investigate men who have committed grave crimes against the people and any number of impeachable offenses is a “distraction”. They are calling us *foolish for not supporting their shabby self-interest and shady backroom deals.

They tell us that we are getting in the way of stopping the war. That what is really important are non-binding resolutions and troop reduction bills that the president vows to veto. They are saying that investigating the President and Vice President will kill important domestic legislation. I guess they are referring to the minimum wage hike that will be paid for by the very taxpayers that need relief instead of the businesses who have profited by abusing workers. Perhaps they have their fingers crossed that if they prevent lobbyists from taking them on quite so many junkets or buying them as quite as many meals, we’ll think they sent the culture of corruption packing.

I’m sorry, but even the majority of us everyday folks can see through their flimsy excuses and the staged concern of the members of the status quo club. We have figured out that the new Democratic Congress is selling us out as fast as you can say “special interest”. We see the war not only continuing, but expanding.
It isn't rocket science to understand that the only effective tool for dealing with the Bush administration has been taken off the table.
It’s almost impossible not to believe that what the Democrats really want to put one of their own in Imperial President’s Palace, fully furnished the all power stolen from us in the last six years.

A friend observed that the Democrats don’t understand power. They think stuffing their pockets with lobbyist’s money is power. They think living with the lie that the Bush government is legitimate is power.

With few exceptions, they simply refuse to believe that standing up for powerful ideas that embody American ideals of truth, justice and fairness is what gets Americans on their feet.
They are hooked on drug of narrow majorities and the cynical belief that we don't matter.
They have failed to grasp the lesson that GOP has learned; that people grant you power when you stand for something. The GOP only won over the country when they wrapped their twisted psychology of amoral opportunism in a thick blanket of American values.
Carol DW

*An opinion voiced by the head of the Legislative Action Committee in my local Democratic organization after “we the people” won back to back resolutions; one calling on Congress to impeach and another to support Senator Eric Oemig’s bill SJM 8016 in the Washington State Legislature to investigate serious allegations of wrongdoing.

CarolDW