While rudeness is something we all abhor, we should not squelch it if in doing so we in any way squelch free speech. Those we elect to Congress are doing the job we hired them to do by sitting in front of the president during his delivery of the annual State of the Union address — ostensibly, to keep him accountable.
At last year’s SOTU speech when Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yelled “you lie” to President Obama over his debatable claims on illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare under ObamaCare, he was both criticized and praised. An awkward moment to say the least, but we should all be willing to live with some uncomfortable moments in the name of democracy. As well, when President Obama, standing literally just feet away from the Supreme Court justices, used the State of the Union speech to slam them for a decision he wished had gone the other way, he was all but begging for a response. Justice Samuel Alito merely silently mouthed the words, “That’s not true” and all hell broke loose. Whether one agreed with the court’s Citizen United ruling or not, the President of the United States confronting the very court who handed down the decision should not expect to do so without some sort of response. It seemed more like intimidation by a president than discourse, under those circumstances. The decades-long debate over Roe v. Wade should serve as an illustration over how passionate those on both sides can be about their position. It is simply not a reasonable expectation that Obama would go un-responded-to by the justices at that moment.
{mosads}Overall, I think I’d rather settle for a few squirm-worthy moments of honest political discussion, accountability and raucous checks and balances over clenched-fisted, frozen-faced PC suppression of free speech in the very center of our nation’s democracy — even if it does get a little bit messy. After all, at one time in the brief history of our young nation, politicians’ duels — complete with guns, rapiers, blood, guts and the rest — were considered an acceptable, and even gentlemanly, way to resolve differences. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were not publicly castigated as brutally as Rep. Wilson or Justice Alito. So while we’ve come a long way since those days, is it possible that perhaps we’ve gone just a tad bit too far?
Unfortunately, and perhaps even somewhat comically, what we will likely be treated to at this evening’s State of the Union address is a Congress filled with hundreds of pre-programmed Stepford Wives sporting fixed, nervous smiles. I expect they will all certainly glance around and check to see when their colleagues are standing, applauding, smiling or nodding before determining their own “authentic” reactions for the benefit of the television cameras and their constituents back home.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.