The Walk of Shame: Incivility Within the Walls of Congress

-Frank Salvato

Watching the State of the Union speech President Bush gave earlier this year
one wouldn't have noticed the walkout staged by a group of the most liberal
Democrats, which occurred about ten minutes before President Bush's speech
ended, but it did happen. As the president was talking about the serious
problems that face the United States and the world with regards to Iraq,
North Korea and the War on Terror, serious matters that no doubt should have
commanded everyone's attention and which prompted Secretary of State Colin
Powell spoke to the United Nations Security Council recently, a group of the
most liberal members of the legislative branch boorishly & disrespectfully
walked out of the annual speech.

According to a Democratic leadership source, the indignant protest was
nurtured and approved prior to the speech by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi,
who not only saw nothing wrong with her caucus behaving rudely but also
encouraged them to "react visibly" to the president's speech "whenever
emotions moved them."

Now, correct me if I am wrong on this but isn't the Congress of the United
States one of the most important legislative bodies in the world? Aren't
they at a level where their personal feelings on any given issue are
supposed to be tempered with their duty to represent their constituents no
matter what their political affiliation? They are public servants, right? I
can't help but feel that those who walked out of one of the most important
speeches of any given year, if not our time, somehow haven't grasped the
idea of political representation.

By walking out of a speech where national policy is being proposed these
representatives of the people, in essence, denied their constituents their
representation which is established by their duly elected representatives
attendance. In effect, they were delinquent in doing their jobs. To be sure,
if a group of employees were summoned to a meeting at any company in the
world and a portion of those summoned simply got up and walked out because
they disagreed with the CEO who was speaking, they most certainly would be
terminated. Why, because they would have been delinquent in doing their
jobs. In this case though, termination is not as easy as the CEO firing
someone for insubordination. In this case it is the people of the individual
legislative districts who have to "fire" their representatives and this is
only achieved by making sure that they aren't elected again.

This is a classic demonstration of the modern-day Democratic Party liberal
acquiescing to the unbridled allure of power and loosing site of what
government is supposed to be doing for the people they represent. Empowered
by an electoral victory these representatives of the people have completely
forgotten that they did not win one hundred percent of the vote in their
legislative districts and that they are responsible for representing the
constituents within their districts who don't necessarily agree with their
personal positions on any given issue, as well as those who do. For a
representative of the people to disregard the opinions of his or her
constituents, to deny his or her constituents representation during a speech
outlining national policy in favor of coupling with their national political
party to assert a political agenda is tantamount to being delinquent in the
duties of their office.

Of course these representatives of the people are not alone in their
misguided actions. While giving credit where credit is due is the
appropriate thing, placing blame where it is warranted must also be
considered appropriate. As an elected leader in the House of
Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, one of the most liberal of Democrats, has a
duty to lead not only those within her far left caucus but all of those who
are members of the Democratic Party which she represents. By encouraging
factions of her party to demonstrate their indignation by walking out of the
State of the Union speech without doing so herself is to put into play the
use of partisan and divisive politics which should have no presence at a
speech to the nation as a whole. By endorsing the actions of those who
walked out Ms. Pelosi is joining in the disenfranchisement of the
constituents who were denied representation during the end of the
president's speech. These are not the moves of a leader; these are the moves
of someone who only has the agenda of her political party in mind. These are
the moves of someone who has caucused with those who were not elected to
office (Terry McAuliffe and the rest of the non-publicly elected DNC) and
who practice the "win-at-all-cost" divisive politics of the 1990's
spearheaded by Bill Clinton and which is still embraced today by a dying
breed of Democrat headed by McAuliffe and Hillary Clinton. This type of
politician is a slave to the aphrodisiac of power and this type of politics
is extremely corrosive to the well being of the country.

Although all of these points are indisputably valid there is a bigger point
to be made here. The government of the United States is one that has always
been based on the sharing of viewpoints whether they are agreed upon or not.
Some of the most defining moments in American history have been brought
about by heated debate within the walls of the Capital Building or within
the walls of a chamber that housed our Congress during those times when
Congress didn't meet in Washington. By walking out of the State of the Union
speech these representatives of the people have terminated that process
which has served this country impeccably for over two hundred years, they
have terminated that history. They have also brought a sense of incivility
to the Congress of the United States and this is something that should be
despised at the highest level for if we are not civilized what are we?

Frank Salvato is a common man and independent writer from the Midwest who has spent time traveling throughout the world while going about his life. His views are entirely his own. He can be contacted at TheRant@attbi.com. His writings can be seen at www.therant.us.

< Back to Opinions

PreventTruthDecay home