Derelicts

Three teenagers buy an iPad,
destroy it with a baseball bat,
for “something to do.”

Derelicts would appear to be an appropriate term for our current 41 Republican Senators. They have apparently been abandoned by their constituencies and they have certainly been negligent in their duties. I don’t remember precisely what the oath of office is for Senators, but I’m pretty certain it has to do with faithfully upholding the Constitution and discharging their duties of office. I cannot state exactly what their duties of office are because as far as I know they are not specifically listed anywhere. But I believe it is entirely reasonable to assume that duties of office do not mean voting like robots for whatever the Republican Party itself insists they should do. In general I don’t believe they are either supposed to or required to vote consistently along party lines. This has sometimes been a problem for some Senators, such as Idaho Senators Crapo and Risch, who automatically vote (at least over 90% of the time) for whatever the Republican party wants. Former Senator Craig did the same. With Senators like this you might as well send robots to the Senate, they would be cheaper to maintain and could vote the party line almost unfailingly.

Senators are important people. There are only 100 of them, two from each states, and they hold and can exercise a great deal of power. Now you might think that people elected to such important positions are elected to serve the best interests of their constituents, or at least to use their power, influence, and judgment for the benefit our country and citizens. You would not expect them to simply act robotically, without thought, conscience, or judgment, and consistently without doing what would appear to be the best and most reasonable thing for their state and nation.

If this is true, how do you explain that for over a year now virtually not one of our current Republican Senators has ever voted “yes” on any proposal put forward by the Obama administration? Can it possibly be the case that there has never been an issue upon which Republican Senators might have disagreed, and one or more broken ranks to vote in the affirmative? Not one Republican thought the Stimulus bill was necessary? Not one that thought universal health care might be a good thing? Not one who thought banks should be regulated? Not one who believed a “bailout” might have been necessary? I find it impossible to believe that out of 100 powerful Senators, supposedly responsible public officials, elected specifically to serve the public, there have been virtually none that have broken with the party line of voting “no” on everything. To me this can only mean one thing, dereliction of duty. These powerful and presumably independent public servants have voted consistently to put party ahead of the public interest. Although I am not certain, I doubt this has ever happened before, at least not so consistently. I say they have been abandoned by their constituents because I see no evidence any of them have been held accountable for this rather unprecedented behavior by those constituents. And unless carrying out the duties of office mean simply voting the party line no matter what the issue, they have been universally derelict in their duties. They have seemingly become nothing but mindless robots, with no independent thoughts or beliefs of their own, just dutifully doing as they have been told. This is certainly not my idea of what a Senator should be. Perhaps I have the wrong idea about Senatorial duties, but I doubt it. In any case these 41 U.S. Senators should be highly ashamed of what they have done and I hope history will record their unprincipled attempt to bring down our elected administration. I would also think that every single one of them should be voted out of office for this mindless, despicable, and virtually treasonous behavior. In their lust for power they have abandoned their responsibilities as citizens and representatives of the people.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”

From The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service