Congress Votes For Politics

Even though there are serious concerns around the world right now (need I list them?) Congress has taken it upon itself to ponder the really pressing issues of the day; gay marriage and flag burning. Why, you ask? The answer is simple; so they can make commercials which, they hope, will keep them in DC for a few more years.

I want to explain how this works, and, just for kicks, let's take hopeless PA Congressman Tim Murphy, who (at last count) holds the record for staff turnover during his last couple of terms as our examplar. Let it be noted that "Turnover Tim" gets his moniker (and this is coming from his former staffers) because of his egomaniacal personality and general pain-in-the-ass-ness.

So, let's say Tim votes for an amendment banning flag burning. The vote goes nowhere, the bill doesn't pass and the issue (momentarily) recedes into the background - except for those hacking together campaign commercials. They know this is great fodder, and it will lead to (drum roll, please!) something like this...

"Tim Murphy believes strongly in the core values you believe, which is why he voted this year to make flag burning illegal. His opponent, as hard as it is to believe, voted against the bill! I guess this limosine liberal, who sides with Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy on every issue, just thinks that setting fire to the stars and stripes isn't a problem at all."

Ya' see how easy that is? Tim didn't really have to do anything, other than show up and vote for a bill that was never going to pass. Ditto gay marriage. Ditto tax bills. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto, you Ditto Heads!

Congress should actually be sued by someone over the absolute waste of our time and money to even bring such bills to the floor for debate. Has ANYONE burned a flag in the last 40 years? And, to put it bluntly, WHO GIVES A DAMN! Okay, I feel better now that I got that off my chest!

So look out, the season of TV Commercial Legislation is in full swing now and will only end when Congress recesses - having settled nothing. But, at least, Congress will then be in recess.....