Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Congressional Grandstanding
Townhall.com ^ | January 9, 2020 | John Stossel

Posted on 01/09/2020 5:04:27 AM PST by Kaslin

Congressional hearings were created to educate lawmakers so they have knowledge before they pass bills or impeach a president.

Not today. Today, hardly any education happens.

During the President Trump impeachment "testimony," legislators tried to score points. At least five times, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., shut down criticism by shouting, "Gentleman is not recognized!"

I get that politicians are eager for "face time" in front of a larger audience, but I assumed they would at least try to learn things. Nope.

Maybe they don't want to ask real questions because they fear looking as dumb as then-Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, did at a hearing on Facebook. He asked Mark Zuckerberg, "How do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service?"

"We run ads," smirked Zuckerberg. "I see," said Hatch.

What's obvious to most people somehow eludes the oblivious "experts" in Congress.

At another Facebook hearing, Congress grilled Zuckerberg about his plan to launch an electronic currency called Libra. Zuckerberg said, "I actually don't know if Libra is going to work, but I believe it's important to try new things."

He was right. But instead of asking about technological or economic implications of the idea, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, asked Zuckerberg, of the companies partnering with him, "how many are headed by women?"

"Congressman, I do not know the answer," replied Zuckerberg.

"How many of them are minorities?" asked Green. "Are there any members of the LGBTQ+ community?"

Green doesn't want to learn anything. He wants to sneer and score points.

Politicians' sloppy ignorance is extraordinary. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, grilled Google CEO Sundar Pichai about iPhones, citing a story about his granddaughter using one, leading Pichai to explain, "Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company."

Today's posturing is not what the founders had in mind when they invented hearings in 1789.

George Mason said members of Congress "possess inquisitorial powers" to "inspect the Conduct of public offices."

Yes! Investigate government.

But today, they are more likely to threaten CEOs and bully opponents.

"Are you stupid?" then-Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said to one witness. They want to showboat, not learn. Often, they ask questions even when they know the answers.

"Ms. DeVos, have you ever taken out a student loan?" asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. "Have any of your children had to borrow money?"

Warren knows that DeVos is a billionaire, but she wanted to score points with her fans.

One of the louder showboaters today is self-proclaimed socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. She asked Wells Fargo boss Tim Sloan, "Why was the bank involved in the caging of children?"

"We weren't," replied Sloan.

Some of today's hearings are useful in that we get to see how absurd and ignorant our representatives can be.

During a hearing on military personnel being stationed on the island of Guam, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Georgia, said, "My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it would tip over and capsize." Really. He said that.

Then there was the time Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chair of the House Financial Services Committee, summoned bank CEOs to Washington and demanded, "What are you guys doing to help us with this student loan debt?!"

"We stopped making student loans in 2007," Bank of America's Brian Moynihan told her.

"We actually ended student lending in 2009," added Citigroup's Michael Corbat.

"When the government took over student lending in 2010 ... we stopped doing all student lending," explained Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase.

The Chair of the Financial Services Committee didn't even know that her own party kicked bankers out of the student loan business, insisting that government take over?! Apparently not. She is so eager to blame business for government's mistakes that she didn't research her own topic.

The more I watch politicians, the more I hate them.

Let's give them less power.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: congress

1 posted on 01/09/2020 5:04:27 AM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

And Democrats lead the pack in ignorance. They are also picking up this skill from their base.


2 posted on 01/09/2020 5:45:50 AM PST by existentially_kuffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We used to have statesmen but now all we have are a bunch of trained monkeys beating their own drums


3 posted on 01/09/2020 5:48:49 AM PST by eartick (Stupidity is expecting the government that broke itself to go out and fix itself. Texan for TEXIT!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Government keeps on finding things that need fixing, that “only government can fix.”

Most of those broken things were broken by government action in the first place!

The student debt “crisis?” Caused by the government. Health insurance “crisis?” Originally cause by government wage and price controls. Mortgage “crisis?” Caused by government forcing banks to make loans to people who would not be able to pay them back.

Over and over again, Congress decided to “fix” crises that government action originally caused, most often making matters even worse. When government gets involved, you wind up with people who know nothing about an industry, business, system, or economy deciding how they will operate.

Probably the best example was in the design of what would become the M-16 for the military in the late 1950s. Eugene Stoner, one of America’s greatest arms designers in history, came up with a design to meet very specific government requirements. In return, he set specific requirements for ammunition and care. Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense and his underlings over-rode many of the specifications set down by Stoner due to cost-cutting (for instance, in the type of powder used in the ammo, as well as deciding not to chrome plate the chambers of the barrels,) which caused the rifle to jam in combat during the Viet Nam conflict, costing many American lives. These “best and brightest” in the government knew better than the man who designed the weapon, and those lives were lost because of government decisions.

Mark


4 posted on 01/09/2020 9:30:33 AM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson