Some fuddy-duddy thoughts on decorum

 

Lots of articles on the web these days “explain” what has happened to the Republican Party and to the House of Representatives. Pundits trace the change in the Grand Old Party to Ronald Reagan with a heavy dose of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”  They give Reagan and his political heirs credit or the blame for policies which favored the rich and powerful and disenfranchised the poor, nearly obliterating the middle class. Trickle-down economics, which they fondly quoted and still try to implement today, obviously did not work.

But what I’ve not seen much written about is the disturbing lack of decorum in recent House proceedings. When Lauren Boebert disagreed with something someone said, she loudly shouted out, “Bullshit!” An inappropriate term, especially in a setting where speakers generally follow the formality of asking the Speaker or Chair to recognize them. In the last day or two, members engaged in shouting matches and at one point a member had to be physically restrained from attacking a colleague. We could not have looked more like a third-world country.

For some time, a line I vaguely remembered has been floating through my mind, something to the effect that in a democracy, the lowest common denominator will eventually rise to the top. I thought it was attributed to one of the Founding Fathers, probably Thomas Jefferson. But it turns out it goes back much further—it was Plato who said it. He called it “rule of the rabble.” A wonderful phrase. It means rule by a mob or masses with intimidation of legal authorities. Sound like the Freedom Caucus or whatever they call themselves?

While we’re on the subject of language, some on the internet have referred to McCarthy’s humiliating 15 attempts to win the speakership as a Pyrrhic victory, one won at too great a cost to the victor to be really counted as a win. Truthfully, I hope and pray that Kevin McCarthy comes to that recognition. His is and will be a hollow victory.

More language: someone suggested that McCarthy become an adjective for a hollow victory: “His was a McCarthy win.” Elsewhere, someone thought Kevin should become a verb for repeated attempts at the same thing with the expectation that the outcome will be different the next time. As in “I kept turning on the ignition, but the motor kept kevining and kevining.” Kevin McCarthy is now the butt of so many jokes, I have no idea how he thinks he can gain enough respect to rule.

There, that’s off my mind! Other than disgust with McCarthy and the whole disgraceful, embarrassing sequence of events, today was a lovey day. I slept hard last night, the first night in weeks. Sophie wasn’t here to wake me, but nether was she on my mind, worrying about her. I have reached a certain level of comfort with the care she is receiving.

This morning we went to visit her, and she had a bit of a spring to her step, wandered around rather than lying apathetically on the floor. Her lab work is not perfect but looking better. Poor baby has great shaved patches for medication purposes, and her tail is wrapped to keep it clean (it looks like a purple rat tail), so she’s a bit pitiful looking. To me, her eyes said she was still not her old, happy self. But she is so much better. Jordan took her on a walk around the parking lot, and she moved right along, didn’t seem to tire. No idea yet when she can come home. She is one of two patients over the weekend, so she’s getting plenty of attention.

Otherwise, my day was emails, exploring the news, reading a bit, and taking a great long nap. Everything one should do on a lazy day. And tonight, I had a delightful dinner with Sue and Teddy—Sue (my Canadian daughter) fixed a chicken roulade with a pasta side dish, one of her neighbors brought a wonderful salad and another a pound cake. I was so pleased to be a last-minute addition to the party. Sue said she waited for a report on Soph before including me. Teddy chauffeured me and treated me like a fragile princess going in and out of the car, up and down steps, etc,--I could get used to that! Interesting conversation, good food, good company—a nice evening, and I was glad to be out and among people.

On the way home tonight, Teddy asked what I plan to do tomorrow, and I said, “not a darn thing except watching church.” But Monday I plan to get back to work—oh, oops, a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the morning will interrupt my work.It seems there’s always something to get in the way of my good intentions.