Just the sight of some Senator or Congressman prefacing a loaded question with a speech slandering the witness has been enough to drop my respect for Congress through the floor. Then when said Congress-bully interrupts the first sentence of the answer with her next slander against the witness the raised finger goes into position.
There was egregious use of such slanders and interruptions in the hearings of the two most recent Supreme Court nominees. Yes, there was some legal support for holding those hearings, but the Senatorial behavior was abysmal regardless.
So Julian Tepper’s essay is right on the mark. Such piggish behavior by legislators should absolutely be held to a minimum. Nothing else in this 21st century – even ‘reality’ shows and ‘news’ anchors – calls so strongly for a revival of the field of honor. Camera-hogging legislators might begin to understand accountability to the community of their fellow humans if they had to select a weapon and put their miserable lives on the line for their nasty partisan behavior.
