On Tuesday, magnetometers were installed just off the House floor as a safety measure in the wake of the riot that led to the overrunning of the US Capitol last Wednesday. Members of Congress were required to go through them.
Cue outrage.
While there were some Democratic members who expressed frustration at the mags and the lines they cause, it was Republican House lawmakers who resisted the move most fervently.
“It is a shame that Nancy Pelosi is trying to disarm Members of Congress in the very place that needed more protection on January 6,” said freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), who had boasted that she planned to carry her gun in Congress. (The District has strict gun laws and Washington’s police chief has warned the congresswoman that she is subject to the same laws as everyone else in the nation’s capital.)
“This is crap right here,” said Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs (R). “You can put that down.”
“You can’t stop me; I’m on my way to a vote,” Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert told the Capitol Police as he walked around the magnetometers.
But I think my favorite Republican response came from Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin, who said of the magnetometers: “It’s my constitutional right. They can’t stop me”
So, let me get this right. [Takes out pocket Constitution]. Mullin doesn’t need to go through magnetometers — put in place following the first significant breach of the US Capitol since the war of 1812 — because of the Constitution? Where, exactly, in the Constitution does it say that you don’t have to wait in line if you are a member of Congress? Is that in the Snyder cut?
HINT: It’s not.
(Sidebar: I would love for there to be something unconstitutional about being forced to wait in lines. I once lost three years of my life in a line for the “Toy Story” roller coaster at Disney World.)
The reactions by Mullin and his fellow Republicans (as well as any and all Democrats who resisted the mags) speaks to the massive level of entitlement that exists in the halls of Congress.
In my earliest days as a reporter, I would occasionally head to Capitol Hill to find a member for a quote I needed for a piece I was working on. I was struck every single time by the way that members carried themselves — and how their staff treated them. It was as though there were 535 kings and queens moving through the Capitol, with courtiers (staff and lobbyists) falling all over themselves to gain the attention of the member or maybe even a kind word.
Unless you spend time in the Capitol — and given last week it might be a very long time until the public gets that chance again — you would miss the culture of the Congress. And it might surprise you that members had such a big problem with waiting in line to go through a magnetometer (like every single one of us does before we get on a plane).
Those who are familiar with the culture of entitlement, however, would not be surprised in the least. If there is an entire culture built around kowtowing to you and telling you how great you are, then you think you are above the rules for normal people. And cite things like your constitutional rights to not have to wait in line.
One thing all these carping members would do well to remember is this: It’s called the People’s House for a reason.
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