OPINION:
Hey, somebody tell Democrat Rep. Jim Himes he’s a public servant. He seems to have forgotten his tax-paid place.
His recent showing-slash-clash on “Sunday Morning Futures” with fill-in Fox News host Trish Regan shows all that’s wrong with today’s ruling class of politicians — and that’s this: They actually think they’re rulers.
They openly and boldly believe they are entitled to more than the average American.
They arrogantly act as if they are the wielders of the rights, holders of the law, dolers and bestowers and granters of the privileges to the rest of the peon class of America — the yous, the mes. They act as if they don’t have to answer questions they deem unimportant because, by gosh, how dare these questions be asked of them in the first place.
You can see it in their expressions, hear it in their talk. And nobody has personified this outlandish play at “better than thou” elitism in recent days than the good congressman from Connecticut, Himes, who ducked and dodged and deviated from Regan’s oh-so-valid query about what he’d do with the immediate crisis at America’s border — you know, the thousands who are illegally trying to storm across, right now, right this moment — and instead, went on the attack.
When she spoke, he interrupted.
When she queried, he scoffed.
When she politely posed, he rudely scorned.
When she cited previously reported warnings of 500 felons within the mass of bodies composing the caravan, Himes said bluntly, rudely, arrogantly, “you’re lying,” and pressed for proof of that claim.
Well, about a week ago, Fox indeed reported this: “More than 500 criminals are traveling with the migrant caravan that’s massed on the other side of a San Diego border crossing, homeland security officials said … The revelation was made during a conference call with reporters, with officials asserting that ’most of the caravan members are not women and children.’ They claimed the group is mostly made up of single adult or teen males and that the women and children have been pushed to the front of the line in a bid to garner sympathetic media coverage.”
Himes never did address or answer head-on the main question posed by Regan — what he’d do to handle the illegals trying to cross into America right now. Instead, he pivoted to the need for America to provide aid to the countries of origin of these migrants, his logic being that if they had enough jobs, infrastructure, money and opportunities in their own countries, they’d never want to flee to the United States.
After all, Himes said, that’s what America does, Himes said. That’s what America’s all about, he said — helping other countries.
Kudos to Regan for keeping her cool.
But memo to the congressman: Nope. Not really. America’s actually about America first. The Constitution, the very document all congressional members are sworn to uphold and protect, doesn’t actually call for welfare, handouts, dole-outs to be taken — stripped, seized, stolen — from the American taxpayer to provide for, say, the Honduran citizen.
The Constitution doesn’t allow for congressional members to use taxpayer dollars for social justice causes and foreign aid matters that serve primarily as means for these politicians to pat themselves on their backs — to pretend to be above-the-fray do-gooders, worthy of gratitude and adoration from the masses.
This class of politician to which Himes belongs, however, thinks otherwise — that politicians in general and Democrats in particular are the ones with all the answers, and that the American public, deplorable as it is, ought to humbly shut collective mouths and let the ones with the real brains do the governing, the leading. This class of politician to which Himes belongs thinks those who dare question their intellectual authority are brazenly out of line, worthy of snubbing and derision.
It wasn’t just Regan whom Himes was dissing during his despicable display of political elitism. It was the American people who wanted to know Himes’ answers to the very questions Regan was asking. It was the American people to whom Himes is supposed to account.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth,” said Abraham Lincoln, once upon a long ago time.
Sadly, with people like Himes in office — it certainly will.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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