By Molly the Robin
My name is Molly and I am an American Robin. I learned to think by seeing myself in car door mirrors. I am a mother who has had several broods of hatchlings. A fellow wrote about my story in Animal Park. He only got half the story right as most people do. I use public school libraries which are often wastefully closed. I usually find windows or openings into schools. I only have to perch on a tree or bush or deck to watch television news, which is hardly worth the trouble most of the time.
As an American Robin, I
suggest that Congress consider going nude in the next session. It might even
improve attendance in Congress. It will bring the members closer together and
help facilitate bipartisanship. Most
importantly, it is not prohibited by the Constitution. Some things are enumerated in the Constitution;
however, the many laws passed are not enumerated in the Constitution. Some of the laws in the Constitution are
ignored, yet Congress does them anyway, like going to war without declaring
war.
Examples of providing for
the select few are subsidies to private firms and industries. It is one thing to assist in humanitarian
ways and quite another to decide winners and losers in the market place with
special favorable tax laws for some industries or companies. Unfairness has become a hallmark of your
country in taxes and subsidies. As an
American Robin I cannot quite understand your legislators' lack of common sense
and common fair play, which is evident in your tax legislation. How the citizenry and members of Congress
permit themselves to get into the lobbying business and trade their access for
money, it means they went into Congress for future lobbying jobs. How could the citizenry and members of
Congress allow their staffs to fly back and forth from lobbying to Congress and
back again from one administration after another is beyond me. Your laws on prohibiting lobbying for members
of Congress is for such a short duration that it is like telling a thief to
suspend thieving for two years before beginning again.
If the thief analogy is
harsh it is only because your Congress is harsh with its citizenry in allowing
private companies like the insurance industry to profit on health insurance
until the citizen turns 65 when the government system takes over. So for all those younger years when most
people are healthy, the insurance industry profits tremendously, but when the
individual becomes old and health-care costs soar, the private company has no
financial responsibility.
Congress having nude
sessions is in keeping with their own conduct of passing so many laws that are
not in keeping with the Constitution, such as subsidies to private companies,
inequality in proportional income taxation, tax legislation favoring some
industries at the expense of others. A
nude Congress baring all might eliminate favoritism, knowing it is showing all
its imperfections to the electorate.
Well, if nude members of Congress can so openly support some
private interests at the expense of others, what else are they capable of
inflicting on the citizenry?
In my reading of the
Constitution, members of Congress -- both Democrats
and Republicans -- are violating it or ignoring it. The Constitution states, "To declare war, grant letters of marquee and reprisal,
and make rules concerning captures on land and water." Now, the two wars against Iraq and the war
against Afghanistan were never declared. In fact, the Congress has been in violation of the Constitution since the
Vietnam War, for that war was not a declared war either. Going further back, the Korean War was not a
declared war. If we American Robins went
to war as often as you do without declaring war we would be in trouble -- removed
from office. But you folks just tumble
along, oblivious to your violations of the Constitution, and the citizenry
accepts it all with a great deal of docility.
One wonders whether the American population is schooled in the Constitution.
Does the average American
know that Congress borrows for war without declaring war -- that your
optional wars are credit card wars? Do
you have a free and unencumbered press on your television or does your
mainstream television often protect your government's closed two-party system
for personal profit? To this American
Robin, your mainstream press does not look so free and independent, especially
in foreign policy. We Robins are
eminently fair, for we allow the early bird to get the worm, something I know
you have heard before.
The Constitution states,
"To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia." Well, when was the last time your Congress
disciplined the military? From all the
lies told about Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch by members of the military one
might think the Congress is negligent in disciplining the military.
Oh, then there is all this
talk about how bad socialism is. Well, sometimes it is bad, but there are
exceptions. One big socialist exception
is building sports stadiums with public money for a private business, that's
how your last president, George W. Bush, made his fortune and no doubt provided
his confidence to run for governor and then president. One could easily say with truth that
socialism made George W. Bush president of the United States. When the community pays for the construction
of a sports stadium and a future president invests several hundred thousand dollars in a Texas baseball team which increases in value to $15 million
dollars after the construction of the stadium, that's socialism. That's the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. But, darn it, Bush and his
compatriots will tell you socialism is bad, but not for them.
Well, you squabbling
Americans fight over everything, usually, one side or the other is
contradicting itself on socialism or foreign policy or wars. In my Robin world, we get along fine and we
don't lie every day or allow our Constitution to be so ignored. I'm so glad that I'm an American Robin and
not one of your kind.
Remember, going to war
without declaring war is not in your Constitution. Remember, paying for sports stadiums and
subsidies with public money is not in your Constitution. Some things are more important than other
things -- health, roads and bridges and education. We robins fly so we can't be bothered with roads
and bridges.
But I guess your kind isn't
bothered either, for I have seen so many sorry roads and bridges, it would
make Humpty Dumpty cry. High--speed rail
is the future, any American Robin knows that, but not those in your American Congress. Any bunch of American Robins could run your
government better than your Congress. Have
you ever heard of any Robins mismanaging any enterprise or government?
Your Congress probably won't go nude, but it does just about everything else.
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