#496 Not Nice

Interesting news item lately. One of our local legislators was so upset a bill he supported didn’t survive he threatened to quit his position. As near as I could tell from published reports, he was angry his bill died at the hands of a fellow party member who appeared to have made a compromise with a special interest group. Much ado was made about his supposedly immature reaction. Kind of the equivalent of clenching his fists and stomping his feet. I mean, everyone knows that political officials don’t care enough about things to get actually mad. They’re only supposed to get pretend-mad long enough to get their point across.
But I always look for the deeper story. Why, I wondered was so much ballyhoo being made of the legislator’s tantrum? What was the backstabbing compromise that he supposedly resented? Call me a political babe in the woods, but I’m always a little suspicious of our tendency in American politics to be preoccupied with the personal and forget the issues. From voting for leaders for their looks to nationally obsessing over the first pets, we seem to miss the point of elected officials, namely that we send them to wherever to get a job done. And that was what this legislator seemed to take seriously enough to get in a snit over. He believed, wrongly or rightly, that his constituents sent him out to do a job. Which was to get new homes warranteed. The warranty he wanted included 2 years for general defects, 3 years for electrical and plumbing and 5 years for moisture issues. His bill was apparently killed because a Building Industry lobbying group said such a warranty would put builders out of business and destroy our economy. Pardon my immature innocence, but am I missing the point here? Warranties only cost money if they have to be used. Are builders only in business because they build crappy houses? And can they stay in business only if we allow them to continue to build crappy houses? It must be my childish logic that’s flawed. I think I’ll go home and suck my thumb in my mildewed bedroom.
America, ya gotta love it