As I sat watching the debt ceiling debate roll back and forth on the various cable news channels last week, I was struck by the number of commentators who mentioned the seemingly unheard of amounts of vitriol and rancor that were making their way through our nation’s capital.
While I agree that inflamed rhetoric and snarky soundbites are much in vogue, I feel the need to quibble with this sudden misgotten belief that this Congress is amongst the worst offenders of being rude and crude.
Compared to some of their predecessors, the current crop of elected officials seem downright tame by comparison.
Roger Griswold, a congressman from Connecticut, attacked Vermont Representative Matthew Lyon with his cane on the House floor in 1798, after Lyon had spit at him during a previous meeting in which Griswold had attacked Lyon’s military service.
Lyon attempted to defend himself with a fire poker – two grown men fighting on the House floor like children in a play sword fight.
Dick Cheney was only the second sitting vice president to shoot a person, as Thomas Jefferson’s first vice president Aaron Burr earns the ignoble distinction of being the first sitting vice president to not only shoot someone, but kill them (Alexander Hamilton, in a duel).
Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina strode onto the Senate floor May 22, 1856, as Republican Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts sat at his desk, writing.
Brooks proceeded to savagely beat Sumner with his cane, claiming Sumner’s latest anti-slavery speech insulted a family member.
Sumner’s injuries kept him from returning to the Senate for three years, and he continued to suffer from post-traumatic disorders.
Many of Brooks’ constituents from across the South made sure to send the firebrand Congressman canes inscribed with the motto “Hit him again” on them.
New York Representative Daniel Sickles shot and killed his wife’s lover in front of Lafayette Park and the White House, and was returned to Congress by his district’s voters after he was acquitted of his charges. That makes sense – they’ve seen what he does when he gets angry.
The Opelika Order of Geezers were quick to remind me that even Alabama’s state politicians aren’t immune to a civility deficit: one need only remember state senator Charles Bishop’s right hook to Democratic state senator Lowell Barron’s face back in 2007 on the senate floor.
So, dear readers, the word volleys may be flying back and forth on Capital Hill and feelings may be getting bruised, but there is something in which we can take heart.
At least they aren’t savagely beating and killing one another – yet.
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