{"id":4779,"date":"2011-09-24T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2011-09-24T05:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidmcelroy.org\/?p=4779"},"modified":"2011-09-23T11:15:36","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T16:15:36","slug":"dc-hypocrites-act-like-spoiled-kids-on-playground-by-pointing-fingers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=4779","title":{"rendered":"DC hypocrites act like spoiled kids on playground by pointing fingers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no real search for truth in the modern political system. Maybe seeking truth has never been a priority for any political system. I’m not sure. What I am sure of, though, is that what passes for truth-seeking today is nothing but partisan political theatre.<\/p>\n

Republicans in the U.S. House attempted to grill the top executives of the failed Solyndra<\/a> solar energy firm on Friday, but the chief executive officer and chief financial officer for the company declined to answer any questions, repeatedly invoking their Fifth Amendment right against answering questions that could incriminate them. (I’ve written about the ongoing scandal<\/a> before, if you’re one of the few who hasn’t run into it already.)<\/p>\n

Why were Republicans so eager to go after this egregious example of government stupidity? Was it because they were suddenly concerned about half a billion of U.S. taxpayer money being handed to a company that will never pay it back? No, it was because a Democratic administration was the one who gave them the loan and<\/em> because the industry being subsidized was one they don’t like.<\/p>\n

Are these same Republicans holding hearings to look into why billions of dollars in taxpayer money was poured down various ratholes during the Bush administration? Of course not. They look the other way at those times. This is political theatre designed to gain advantage in next year’s elections by tagging an administration with a scandal.<\/p>\n

While Democrats might be nodding up until this point, they’re just as guilty when the shoe is on the other foot. When it was a Republican administration in power, Democrats in Congress did everything they could to expose what they saw as corruption and malfeasance in spending the might possibly be blamed on Republicans. Remember them trying to turn Blackwater<\/a> and Haliburton<\/a> into millstones around Republicans’ necks?<\/p>\n

Those loud-mouthed Democratic advocates for the people turned meek and mild in Friday’s hearing, with U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) complaining when Republicans kept trying to ask questions<\/a> of the Solyndra execs after they’d invoked their Fifth Amendment rights:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>“I just want to take this moment to assert the fact that I think it’s unseemly and inappropriate for members to be asking questions that you know they will not answer,” Waxman said, saying the GOP questions were “sound bites” for the press.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Waxman, of course, wouldn’t ever do such a thing — unless it was a Republican administration he was trying to score points against. These people are all hypocrites, but they only get away with it because you allow it by supporting them.<\/p>\n

The power structure in D.C. — or anywhere else around the world among the coercive states of various stripes — isn’t interested in truth. It’s not interested in the welfare of “the people.” It’s interested in jockeying for power and squeezing out the political opposition. What you see when they claim to “fight for you” is pure political theatre. You’re a fool if you believe it’s anything other than a thinly veiled attempt at getting their own way.<\/p>\n

Any system that puts power into the hands of the majority — and gives those people the necessity of picking a few people to control everybody else — is doomed to create this situation. We keep complaining about the politicians in Washington and in our state capitals and city halls, but it’s not the people who are the problem. It’s the system.<\/p>\n

We need competitive governance — a system by which people can be free to vote with their dollars and their feet about which sort of rules they live under. We need to get rid of the idea that everybody has to live under a one-size-fits-all set of rules handed down by elites selected by the majority.<\/p>\n

Until then, we’re going to continue to be slaves<\/a> who live under the authority of squabbling children whose whims can be carried out by thugs with guns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no real search for truth in the modern political system. Maybe seeking truth has never been a priority for any political system. I’m not sure. What I am sure of, though, is that what passes for truth-seeking today is nothing but partisan political theatre. Republicans in the U.S. House attempted to grill the Keep Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1x9iR-1f5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4779"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4794,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779\/revisions\/4794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}