Congress is Literally Cracked

Tim Bean

8/27/2012

Capitol Rotunda Fresco

We all know about the definite fissures in Congress between the Republicans and the Democrats.  I believe the term is called “gridlock.”  Personally I do not think gridlock is such a bad thing, because it is about the only thing that actually slows the growth of government these days.  As I wrote in “Greasing the Wheels of Democracy” (I know we have a Constitutional Republic, but it is based on democratic principles) the only way that anything gets done any more in the hallowed halls of our government is if there is one party or the other which gains control of both the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.  Then we simply get wholesale passage of agendas, and I don’t particularly think that an all or nothing approach to government is a particularly healthy way to advance democratic principles, let alone the founding principles of our country; but, again, as Dennis Miller said, “that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”

So, yeah, we know that the actual people who are there to represent us are more beholden to party dogma, than the actual representation of all of their constituents, but did you know there are literal and actual cracks in Congress?  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the great dome that sits atop of Congress has 1,300 cracks in it due to years of neglect and disrepair – kind of like our Republic (sorry I had to throw that in there).  Apparently the cracks have reached a level of such severity to where the dome now leaks, and is in danger of not just ruining the frescos painted on its interior, but the continued leakage could lead to the loosening of fixtures, which could then fall on passersby; which would not be a good thing.  Of course if the dome is to continue to languish in disrepair then there is the possibility that it could eventually collapse, and how would that look if the world’s greatest superpower, and supposed protector of freedom, has it’s capitol building collapse?  It probably wouldn’t exactly make us look too good.

So, Sen. Charles Schumer has proposed a $61 million dollar addition to be added to a stopgap spending bill that is on the table to prevent a government shut-down.  Why would there be a government shut-down, because there hasn’t been an actual budget passed by our government in about four years now – you know because of that whole “all or nothing” politics thing we’ve got going on right now.

So, let’s take a moment to consider a few things.  We have the money to drop bombs on whatever country we deem worthy of such treatment.  We have the money to then rebuild those countries infrastructures after we drop bombs on them.  We have the money to quite literally give to other countries, with no expectation of return.  But we don’t have the money to pay-down our deficit.  We don’t have the money to repair our crumbling infrastructure, and now our Capitol has joined the ranks of those things that have fallen into deep disrepair…Hmm, I wonder how we ever got here; any guesses?

“Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay.”  (Sallust, Roman Historian; 86 BC – 35 BC)