An
otherwise unremarkable congressman, Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) made
a remarkable utterance recently.
According to NBC’s Frank Thorp, Stutzman said, “We have to get something out of
this. And I don’t know what that even is.” He’s not talking about selling his
baseball card collection on E-Bay. Or a signed program from a Ted Nugent
concert. Rep. Stutzman is referring to shutting down the U.S. government. Four
days ago, He and eighty or so of his Republican colleagues in the House refused
to agree on an operating budget for the federal government unless the
Affordable Care Act was delayed or denied funding. Thus, forcing our nation’s
government to halt many of its functions and suspend without pay thousands of
employees.
What’s
remarkable is how Mr. Stutzman can act so recklessly and be so honest about it.
He’s beyond caring – if he ever did – about his party’s ostensible goal of
denying health care to millions of Americans or the shutdown’s undeniable results,
mass unemployment among others. Stutzman and his cronies refuse to end the
shutdown until they get “something.” At this point in a hostage situation, when
the criminal or terrorist is surrounded, but
refuses to speak with negotiators, the police usually send for the
perpetrator’s mother, wife, or girlfriend to talk with him through a bullhorn.
Not applicable. Nor is Rep. Stutzman risking his re-election in a state that
reveres Dan Quayle and in 1924, elected a Governor, who was in the Ku Klux Klan.
Our only hope may lie in the fate of Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of
Illinois. In a phone call wiretapped by the FBI, he stated, as follows, his
intention to “sell” the Senate seat vacated by Pres. Obama, “I’ve
got this thing and it’s f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up
for f***in’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it.” Gov. Blagojevich is currently
serving fourteen years for corruption in a federal penitentiary.
Rep.
Stutzman preceded his comment about getting something by saying, “We’re not
going to be disrespected.” That’s a common enough sentiment among gang members
and an organizing principle of La Cosa Nostra, but rarely is it copped to so bluntly - at least, in
public - by U.S. Congressmen. We are beyond political compromise here. The
Republicans controlling the House of Representatives clearly won’t end the
government shutdown for anything less than ring-kissing. I’ll admit that my
experience with the Mafia is long
on Corleones and short on actual capos, but an adequate parallel
might be found in Carmine “The Snake” Persico, reputed leader of the Colombo
crime family. In June, 1987, Persico ordered the murder of William Aronwald, a
retired prosecutor who had allegedly been disrespectful. Two hitmen killed
Aronwald’s father, George, by mistake. They paid with their lives. Then, the
gunmen who killed them were silenced. Persico is currently serving 139 years on
charges of murder, extortion, loansharking, racketeering and gambling.
I’m not saying that Mr. Stutzman and his cohorts are
criminals or belong in jail. What they’re doing isn’t illegal. It’s – what is
it? Immoral? Unethical?
Inappropriate? Their behavior falls outside recognizable human conduct, so it’s
up to their fellow Republicans to take action. Not John Boehner, of course. That
walking Dorito thinks that being crunchy is a sign of
strength. I’m talking about the House - and Senate – Republicans who are
neither blinded by hate nor motivated by it. I’m not expecting the
School of Athens, just some professional legislators who know that
crapping
and fall back into it does not constitute a political position.
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