The epitome of what's wrong with representative democracy today, or more accurately its representatives, is illustrated by the recent tantrum of Representative Baron Hill, Democrat, Indiana.
In a town hall meeting at Indiana University Bloomington Representative Hill called on a young lady in the audience. She timidly explained that she hadn't intended to ask a question, she was there as a journalism student working on a project. What she wanted to know was why she had been forced to turn her camera off? Wasn't this (recording a public meeting with a government official) her right?
The congressman's response is quoted below:
This is MY town hall meeting and I set the rules (boos and hisses), let me repeat that one more time, this is MY town hall meeting for you (boos), and you are not going to tell me how to run MY congressional office. Now the reason why I don't allow filming is because the films that are done wind up on YouTube in a compromising positions.
Hmm, Government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians... just doesn't sound right. As I am sure you will find out in the next election, it is not YOUR town hall meeting or congressional office. It is the office OF THE PEOPLE of the 9th District of Indiana.
It seems, Sir, that you have crossed the line from public servant to elitist jerk... you do know that Baron is your name, not your title?
The irony here is that despite his best efforts the congressman is plastered all over YouTube in a compromising position anyway. I guess that "credentialed" journalists are not to be trusted any more than the people are. Either that, or the people are a bit more ingenious than their duly elected representative.
It's a shame because Baron Hill is actually a fairly moderate blue-dog democrat with a fairly centrist voting record, and you just know that his political opponents in the next election, both republican and democrat, will be using this "compromising" footage in next elections campaign ads.
Like Howard Dean's "I have a Scream" speech in 2004 I have a feeling that this little temper tantrum is going to be the end of Baron Hill's political career, projecting as it does an elitist, authoritarian, and entirely self-centered view of American politics.
1 comments:
Entitled overlords... This is what too much pampering and too much privilege does to people. Personally, I think we need to scale back their perk so the have to live and work more like ordinary people.
Is there a youTube of this or just a transcript?
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