A Question of Dignity

nancy-pelosi-fist

 

By Guest Blogger Dave Carter (Retired military veteran, over the road trucker, and Contributing Writer for Ricochet.com)

God bless Nancy Pelosi and her accidental efforts to keep the rest of us entertained while the Republic goes to hell in a union-labled hand basket.  The Congresswoman from the left coast typically doesn’t have much to say, but that doesn’t stop her from saying it anyway, and at copious length.  Why just today, when questioned about the possibility that Congressional pay could be cut as a result of looming fiscal sequestration, she registered her disapproval thus:

I don’t think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do.  I think it’s necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded.

That she believes it is the dignity of the job that should be rewarded rather than, say, the performance, is quite telling.  What’s the going rate on dignity these days, anyway?  I recall it as being a commodity that could be traded for votes when it came time to vote on Obamacare, for example.  Back then, Ben Nelson’s virtue could be had for a cool $100 million exemption for his state of Nebraska to cover Medicaid expansion, while Senator Mary Landrieu’s price went up to $200 million in extra funds for Louisiana.  But she is a lady, after all.

Someone once actually asked me if I would ever consider running for Congress and I immediately answered that I’m not temperamentally suited to it, adding that Congressional offices and bordellos both come appointed with furniture having thick cushions, and for largely the same reason.  The problem is that while Ms. Pelosi frets over the possible diminution of her largely fictional dignity, the American people are seeing the very real diminution of their income and freedom (economic and otherwise).

Investors Business Daily reports that the policies of President Obama, which garner the enthusiastic support of Ms. Pelosi, have bequeathed a growth rate of 0.8% , the weakest in 60 years.  Meanwhile, median family income has dropped by over $4,000 (adjusted for inflation) under the stewardship of dignitaries such as Rep. Pelosi, Sen. Reid, and President Obama.  The price of their virtue notwithstanding, the ultimate issue is the dignity of We The People, for when enough of our countrymen sell their virtue to feed on the labor and earnings of others, the pay of a congressman is really of very little comparative importance.  But, as Mark Twain observed, “All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.

 

Thanks for sharing!