Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
Over on the Corner at National Review, Brian Bolduc has a piece about a speech given by former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. In that speech Rep Pelosi said that “Elections shouldn’t matter as much.” As much as I hate to say it, and I’ll probably have to wash my mouth out with soap after typing this (?), I think the she’s right. Though, doubtlessly for different reasons.
In the government established by our Constitution, the federal government was intended to play a very limited role. Until less then a hundred years ago the idea that federal intrusion would touch every aspect of your life was absurd. Today, when the apparatus of federal over-reach extends to determining the light bulbs you buy and controlling the amount of water flowing through your toilet, elections do matter much more than they ought to.
I am in favor of a system (conveniently enough, one provided for by the foundational laws of our nation) in which whom we elect does not significantly alter the course of our country because those people we put in office are constrained by the letter and spirit of our most fundamental law. In many ways, under such a system, the course of the country remains fixed, towards freedom and prosperity, and cannot easily be steered away from it.
So yes Madame Pelosi, lets move back to a time when the power of those elected, people like you, is sharply limited, and elections don’t matter so much anymore.
Mr. Bolduc’s post can be found here.
For some video of Mrs. Pelosi’s speech head over to Real Clear Politics.
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
Or, at least, back to a time when the local and state elections meant more than the federal!
It seems to me that back in the 60's the federal government changed to a "year-round" session from the six month sessions that preceded the change. Am I wrong? I think I'd prefer the shorter sessions for the sake of reducing the time congress has to meddle.
I also seem to remember my Rep. (at the time, Chalmers P. Wylie) being called back to session, and the local papers making a big deal of the fact he got arrested in PA. for speeding (and subsequently got out of the ticket) because of the indemnity for congressmen in session...[sigh] those were the good old days...when our congressmen and women had regular jobs, too.
Jun '10
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
I saw the same story and began my natural recoil to anything Nancy Pelosi says, but then I thought further. It is correct that we are completely obsessed with national elections. We can't seem to get anything done without worrying about whether it affects the next election. That's hardly a way to achieve anything. I'm still in denial that Pelosi may be right about something, but I'll at least concede a moment of reflection on what she said. Ew, that really hurt.
Jan '11
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
I sympathize with your point, but I wouldn't fight it that way.
Frequent elections serve a purpose: to allow the people to express their will. What's interesting about the last few years is that the people elected Democrats, I'd argue, out of frustration with Bush. But when the Democrats got into office, they took the opportunity to install a radical government ... and then what happened? In the next election, the people rejected that radical government.
In that respect, the current system worked exactly as designed. The people immediately rejected the radical government. But what happened? The Democrats ignored the people.
Nancy Pelosi has shown, time and time again, that she fundamentally doesn't understand government. Pelosi is the privileged daughter of a local Baltimore politician who grew up watching her father grease his way through city politics. She took that attitude to Congress. All she sees about government is power, and how to manipulate things to her advantage.
Her grasp of government is as weak as her grasp of Catholicism. She's manipulative, of course, but that doesn't take intelligence. Wolves are shrewd. Read what she says! She's just plain stupid.
Jul '10
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
And this from Ms. "Let's hear it for the power!"
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
Funny, Nancy Pelosi did not say, "Elections should not matter so much" -- not in 2006, and not in 2008. I wonder why.
Apr '11
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
Yes, allow me to *gulp* partially agreed with Pelosi and say that certainly some elections are too important. This immediately made me think of the SCO-WI election last week in Wisconsin (and by some extension, the nomination of Fed and SCOTUS picks based on which party holds power through election). The entire election was run as "elect Prosser to kept the current collective bargaining law" or "elect Klopp to disavow it." The fact the political makeup of court jurors shall determine the constitutionality of the laws we pass rather than, oh I don't know, the constitution itself, whether state or federal, is sad and depressing. It is nothing new that the judiciary branch has ascended from an equal to supreme branch of the government, but still, the will of the people, assuming the constitutionality of the proposed legislation, should not hinge on such things. Nation of laws, not men.
Apr '11
Re: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
She may right, but it's HER party that needs to be taken back. The Progressives have left many rational people behind in their quest to transform the United States into some sort of pacifist, nanny/welfare state European Union member. I don't think the GOP is considering "deem and pass" or telling people we have to "pass the bill to find out what's in it."
Election matter more than ever because of the shift to the left of the Democratic Party, not the fiscal shift toward sanity that the Tea Party has brought to the GOP.
Edited on April 14, 2011 at 12:51amRe: Former Speaker Speaks Out Against (Republican) Elections
tbc