on the lawpolitics & government

The republican Democrats

The rats have fled. In Wisconsin and now in Indiana, Democrats who have been shellacked into a piddling minority have screwed up their little faces in rage, taken their balls and gone home. Well, they have not gone home, but they have gone. Evidence indicates that they favor the Land of Lincoln for their refuge for reasons unknown except that here they are beyond the reach of state troopers set on their trail. But their solidarity cracks. One Wisconsin Senator is heavily pregnant. Her needs threaten her resolve. Another declares that the legislated end to direct deposit (a brutal Republican maneuver) puts his escape in jeopardy since his means are slight and life on the lam, expensive. One Tim Cullen has publicly flirted with surrender but been talked out of it. He exists now in a state of quantum ambiguity across State lines, like Schrodinger’s Cat, neither here nor there, neither alive nor dead. In any case the cowardice, dereliction and pure stubborn depravity of these traitors has thrown a broomstick into the spokes of democracy. We should thank them.

Democracy was held in low regard by the bright, drunken fellows who founded our country and drafted our earliest laws. As they would see it, as study of classical history would reveal it, democracy is little more than the law of the jungle given legs and arms. The chanting scrum polluting the Wisconsin capitol with peanut shells and post-it notes would have given Jefferson the horrors and sent Madison into a coma as an example of democracy. But while the fugitive legislators claim a close affinity with this crowd, while they declare that they speak for their interests, let’s not tar them with the name of “mob” as the demonstrators obviously deserve. You see, contrary to some irresponsible assertions to the contrary, the runaway Dems are following honorable precedent and more importantly, they are following the rules; the rules of a republic which describes Wisconsin as well as the nation.

Quorum is the term of art. It means nothing more than the minimum number of some group necessary to conduct business. In the Wisconsin Senate the Republicans alone constitute a quorum minus one so if a single Democrat walks through the door they convene. That not a single Democrat has been chiseled away from the pack of fourteen is something close to miraculous. The ordinary practices of politics would suggest that Walker or his surrogates bring all the pressure and promises they can muster against the weakest two or three escapees. Maybe one would switch parties. Maybe some would be open to (legal) bribery in the form of a rec center in their name or somesuch froofraw that these types seem to covet.

So far no go. One side, the one that profits mightily from the status quo, praises their courage. The other side, the one agitating for alterations, denounces their dereliction. But merits aside, there is nothing scurrilous or new about this action. At worst, quorum gaming is rare. We don’t need to turn to Greece or Rome to find instances of honorable withdrawal from the political field, although we could. In 1988 a Republican led quorum boycott ended when Bob Packwood was scooped up like a raccoon in the laundry room and delivered back to his habitat; the Senate floor. Everyone’s favorite ex-Whig Republican jumped out a State House window to avoid a quorum call as a young Illinois Houseman, so passionately did he want the State Bank to survive. Democrats have historical quorum battles on their ledger as well. The “Disappearing Quorum” was an ordinary though not common practice which added the absurdity that lawmakers who were actually physically present hid from the roll call under their desks and behind draperies. Only in 1890 was this practice made out of order.

In all instances the quorum is used as a protection of the minority from the majority. This is the very essence of republicanism as opposed to democracy. We are not just deciding by approbation here. We are not using an applause meter to judge matters. There is little any group of people can agree on and the larger the group of people the less agreement one will find. What we have agreed to, as We the People is not much but it is a process, not an outcome. Our national process is spelled out in great detail in the Constitution. No less are the processes of Wisconsin or Indiana or Pennsylvania spelled out in their Constitutions. The quorum is in there for a reason. So are the recalls now pursued by the unionist side against their Republican foes. The Walkerites respond in kind while they also use their position in the lower Wisconsin House to encumber the Democrats’ paychecks, movement and communication. Quite legally and properly law enforcement is on the lookout for the runaways; this also is Constitutional. The quaint-sounding offices of the Sergeant at Arms and the House Whip call out to us from a too-easily forgotten past when their purpose was more obvious as our public affairs, while far more voluble than today (believe it) were also more honest and in many a measure, more beneficial.

Much of this benefit comes simply from the infant gubs at all levels just doing less. There is a fashionable call today for any politician to “concentrate” on some matter. To “prioritize”, as if there is a vein of law and prosperity to be dug if only these slackers will apply themselves. Dear GOD NO! Do not think such a thing. It is largely from the odd times this pack of dogs stops licking themselves, fighting each other and chasing rabbits that our current predicament comes. Much of the very purpose of our Constitution is to make a kennel for these beasts and only let them out for useful work and the useful work of a cur is limited indeed. We need watchdogs. We need sheepdogs. To some extent we need retrievers, and terriers serve their purpose but for the most part the great object of our government is and should be keeping this pack from digging up the garden!

The Federal Constitution was drafted and ratified to this end. The institution it construes was intentionally crippled at birth because it was always certain to grow larger than any of its competitors. The quorum, recalls, impeachment, expulsion, censure and other mechanisms are designed as tripwires to halt the oafish mass of government and put it in the mud where we might get at it. And when they do, then we must.  Wherever your political preferences lie, use all the methods and tools the Constitution puts in your hands. Don’t let some vapid sentiment of fairness or decorum prevent a call for impeachment or a denunciation of a fraud, traitor or loon. We demonstrate our fairness and manners by not revolting; by not shooting the tax man or the traffic cop. Other than that we claim a free hand. If this sounds savage and anarchic it is only because the reality of the human condition has been airbrushed from our conciousness by peddlers of get-along-ism; the T-ball fans who (as we see in Wisconsin) revert to fast pitch beanballjust as soon as they fall behind in an unscored game. True savagery and anarchy still are the “natural” state of man. These are paraded on the news every moment and this is the frightful alternative to our centuries long position of liberty, prosperity and relative peace based on equally applied, public, written law.

So don’t allow your lawful actions, however dire or hilarious, to be derided as brutality. It brings us closer to REAL brutality. Likewise don’t denounce others using all the legal tools at their disposal as anything but misguided patriots, for so they are. We have had our normal, healthy instincts of suspicion, insult and obloquy made suspect by the cooing hairstyles in media and politics who could not endure a whiskey-lubed conversation in middle America for ten seconds. These are the few that profit from the pre-K atmosphere of irresponsibility they have created by ruling any judgement of themselves out of bounds and they hire an army of mercenary gunslingers tasked to replace concrete legal certainties with fashionable statistical likelihoods; replacing electoral polls with public opinion polls of their own construction. Enough is enough of all that. So here is to the (metaphorical) knuckle-duster fighters, the Fugitive Caucus from Wisconsin, Indiana and who knows? Your state next. They aren’t out of line in the least. Though they might just be out of office.

Latest posts by Ken Watson (Posts)

Print This Post Print This Post

Discussion Area - Leave a Comment