The email rebuked me for using the “A” word.  It came the other day from a listener enraged I would suggest assassination could well be the outcome in many state capitols if government continued ignoring the will of the public.  I was discussing the criminal enterprise operating across the bay in New Jersey.  One which takes from the citizens and rewards public officials and party hacks.  I said it shouldn’t surprise legislators in Trenton if people started taking potshots.  

I stand well rebuked.  Assassination is the tool of the anarchist.  It implies a lack of order.  Our goal is to restore order.  This is why the synonym execution is proper.  Organized committees of citizens could seize and convict and then hang state legislators.  I would offer the imprimatur demanded be the fellow sending me the email.  I’m not recommending wholesale slaughter of legislators.  I suggest picking a dozen elected officials through a lottery would suffice.  These 12 would then swing from lampposts near their respective capitol buildings.  It wouldn’t even be necessary to do this in all 50 states.  After 7 or 8 committee’s carried out sentence state legislators across the nation would understand the public will.  Washington would also catch on very quickly. 

 I’m sick of government claims of reform.  Aside from Louisiana there isn’t any such thing and the impulse there is likely temporary.  Lobbyist cash is drowning fairness across the country and here in Delaware we understand a goal of being elected is to ensure incompetent sons and spouses have work feeding at the public trough.  It isn’t any longer about service.  “I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em”, is the famous line from a corrupt public servant in Chicago.  It’s now the mantra in the halls of power. 

Worried about getting rope burns while playing hangman?  Let me offer some other thoughts.  Close the capitol buildings.  Send legislators home.  Have them install web cams on their computers.  Session will now be virtual and long distance and freed from constraints of history.  It will break the backs of the powerful lobbies as they scurry to reach far flung lawmakers.  Your legislator won’t be out of sight.  Your legislator won’t be spending your money on gasoline and related travel costs.  Your legislator will be answering you directly.  When the fastest available transportation was the horse and communication was parchment delivered by the animal the elaborate capitols and lavish, secretive lifestyles were dominant.  Legislators adopted the role of the Lord of the Manor when returning home.  It was the end of the citizen legislator and any hopes that government was designed to serve the public.  

I don’t give a hoot how many of the local political elites gripe about me and claim they aren’t at all like this.  My forebears would’ve said you’re full of it.  You’re also damned liars.  You may escape the rope here.  No matter judgment waits at the gates of hell.  Life like power is finite. 

 

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