Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The People’s House
When I interviewed him yesterday for Uncommon Knowledge, Congressman Kevin McCarthy of California, the new House Majority Leader, stressed the truly democratic character of the House of Representatives. Members of the House, he said with real affection for the institution, come from all walks of life. He spoke with particular pride of having persuaded a farmer from Frog Jump, Tennessee — of all places — to run for the House in 2010… a farmer who is now known as Congressman Stephen Fincher.
Here’s the way Leader McCarthy summed it up:
I think of the Senate as a country club. The House of Representatives is more like a diner.
Beautiful.
Published in General
A diner, eh? I’d be really interested to hear what James has to say about that.
Ruth Chris Steak House, maybe?
Is that why your stomach always feels so queazy after you go there?
They may come from all walks of life, and that’s a good thing. But so few *seem* to remain true to their roots after a few years on the Hill.
To paraphrase Anton Ego: “Not everyone can become a politician; but a politician *can* come from *anywhere*”. I just wish the critical mass would arrive not content to play the game as it is, but to make their mark in such a way as to neuter the progressive plundering of our national panoply.
Weird side note but I used to drive through Frog Jump on the way to my folk’s place just a few years ago. It’s as small as you’d think :)
Somebody please go through the history books and find out how many of the “farmers from frog jump” achieved positions of power and authority within the House of Representatives, compared to the Ivy League lawyers.
Could it possibly be that those in positions of power and authority like to bring “farmers from frog jump” into the House because they are seen as being easier to control and less of a threat to the elite’s status and position?
For the record, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who holds no law degree, is a graduate of the California State University at Bakersfield, while the only man in the House who outranks him, Speaker John Boehner, also not lawyer, is a graduate of Xavier University–and the first in his family to attend college.
Kevin McCarthy: Amnesty shill.
Apologies for the quality of the photo. Not my best work.
That’s the last straw. I want a refund.
/sarc
And Paul Ryan’s a Miami of Ohio Redskin — er, Redhawk.