The Case of the Misplaced Priorities

It’s October 9, 2013 and the government shutdown has entered its ninth day.  If I were a mystery writer working on a novel about the current situation in Washington DC the title might be “The Case of the Misplaced Priorities.”  It would be a novel full of lies cheating and of course heroes who try to solve the great mystery.  It would involve corruption at the highest level.  In our mystery, some people would be hurt while others would benefit. 

In an attempt to help our “beloved” leaders in the Senate and White House, I would like to help them find their priorities and point out where their priorities are misplaced.  Perhaps then we can get our government back to being a government of the people, by the people, and for the people instead of being a government where citizens end up serving the elitists in DC.  Okay maybe I am a dreamer but I do believe in miracles. 

When our elected officials take office, they swear to protect the Constitution of the United States.  The Constitution they swear to defend obligates them to protect the citizens’ persons, property, and liberties.  (1)  To put it in simpler terms that the elites in Washington can understand, you are to serve us and not us serve you.  Your priorities for serving in office are contained in the Constitution but when my fellow citizens and I witness your actions during the current shutdown, it would appear you left those priorities on the copy of the Constitution you swore to protect and have misplaced your copy. 

For example, poll after poll have shown that a majority of citizens do not want Obamacare.  In an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on September 16, only 12 % of those polled believed Obamacare would have a positive impact on their families.  (2)  In the same poll, only 31% believed the law was good and only 23% claimed Obamacare would benefit the healthcare system.  Fifty-two percent believed Obamacare will cause healthcare costs to rise and 73% of those polled were satisfied with their current healthcare.  (2)

If our leaders in Congress and the White House were true to their Constitutional propriety to serve the American People, they would pay attention to these polling numbers, repeal, delay, or defund Obamacare, and fund the rest of government.  However, they have misplaced their proprieties and are no longer paying attention to those that elected them to office. 

If that is not proof that our leaders have misplaced priorities, we have Harry Reid telling fellow senators not to pay attention to their constituents for they serve the government.  (3)  Senator Reid, when you swore to defend the Constitution, you were swearing to protect a document that has as its purpose the formation of a government that serves the people.  This is why the authors of the Constitution set up a representative republic with division of power, a system of checks and balances, and a Bill of Rights that was added after ratification to clearly define the rights the newly formed government was to protect. 

Senator Reid you seem to have forgotten that and now view your purpose as majority leader in the Senate as that of serving a growing government that more times than not, steps on the rights of the citizens.  We can find plenty of examples of this in the behavior of government during this shutdown. 

Honor Flights is a program that takes World War II vets to visit their memorial in Washington DC.  The program assists veterans at the airport and with trip logistics.  The Amarillo Texas Honor Flight program raises all the money so the trip is free for vets.  (4)  Since the World War II memorial was not open to the public until April 29, 2004, these veterans, who are now in their 80’s and 90’s, were unable to visit their memorial in the prime of their lives.  Honor Flights is doing this as a way of honoring these heroes. 

Unfortunately, the leaders of the nation these veterans fought to defend do not hold these heroes with the same regard.  Instead of honoring these heroes when they arrived in Washington DC after the government shutdown, they were told they could not enter their memorial.  The good news is that these brave heroes, many in wheel chairs, stormed the memorial in a manner not unlike how many of them stormed the beaches of Normandy.  The sad news is that our current leaders wanted to use these heroes as pawns in their budget impasse with conservatives.  These heroic men deserve better from the country they fought to defend. 

The oppression of the people goes beyond just the military for ordinary citizens and even foreigners visiting our country during this shutdown have experienced gestapo like tactics when visiting our national parks.  A group of tourists found themselves inside Yellowstone Park on October 1, the day of the shutdown.  The group found themselves locked in a park hotel under armed guard.  They were forbidden to leave the hotel and go outside to see the park, including the main attraction, Old Faithful.  (5)  On the bus trip to the hotel, the group was even prevented from taking photos of a group of bison crossing the road and was told that constituted recreating which the park rangers said was forbidden. 

Many of these tourists were also foreign visitors and thought they were under arrest, which is perhaps how they are treated in their home countries.  (5)  Once again, a group of innocent citizens and foreign visitors, only looking to visit one of our most scenic national treasures, found themselves being used as pawns in a political power grab going on in Washington DC.  I would not blame the foreign visitors in the group if they were to go home and tell their friends not to visit the United States because they may be arrested for simply taking a picture of a herd of buffalo. 

I want to invite the leaders of our country that have misplaced their priorities to read the Constitution they swore to defend for in it, they will find their misplaced priorities.  Of course some of these leaders may like having their proprieties misplaced and actually may have misplaced them on purpose.  For those that like their misplaced priorities, be prepared to go home after the next election and live out of power with your misplaced priorities.

So the mystery of the misplaced priorities has been solved.  The priorities are in the Constitution and all one has to do to find them is read and follow it.  The question is will our leaders do it. 

1. Hillsdale College. The Constitution of the United States of America. [book auth.] Hillsdale College. The U.S. Constitution: A Reader. Hillsdale MI : Hillsdale College Press, 2012.

2. Breitbart News. Poll: 12% Say Obamacare Will Have Positive Impact on their Family. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, September 16, 2013. [Cited: October 8, 2013.] http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/16/uninsured-obamacare.

3. Riehl, Dan. Harry Reid: Forget Constituents, We Serve the Government. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, October 1, 2013. [Cited: October 3, 2013.] http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/10/01/Harry-Reid-Forget-Constituents-We-Serve-the-Government.

4. Hawkins, Awr. UNDERSTANDING 'HONOR FLIGHTS': HOW THEY BROUGHT WWII VETS TO DC FOR OCTOBER 2. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, October 3, 2013. [Cited: October 8, 2013 .] http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/02/Understanding-Honor-Flights-And-How-They-Brought-WWII-Vets-To-DC-For-October-2.

5. Macone, John. 'Gestapo' tactics meet senior citizens at Yellowstone. www.newburyportnews.com. [Online] Daily News, October 8, 2013. [Cited: October 8, 2013.] http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x1442580373/Gestapo-tactics-meet-senior-citizens-at-Yellowstone.