Article by E. Jeffrey Ludwig in "The American Thinker":
Professor Jonathan Turley of Georgetown University Law School wrote in The Hill of the Speaker’s State of the Union behavior, “Pelosi
has shredded decades of tradition, decorum and civility that the nation
could use now more than ever.” He also described her with the words
“petty,” “distempered,” and “inappropriate.” She failed to introduce
the President properly, and then was particularly out of line when she
tore up his speech after grimacing and showing petulant expressions
throughout the President’s speech.
Turley
asserted that she should resign from office as the Speaker as her
breaches of decorum at the State of Union were the worst of all those he
has criticized over the years. For Turley, it is important because decorum
is a kind of unifying glue. It is the fallback M.O., the detachment
whereby differences of person and policy are transcended in our
republic. He might just as well have called for the entire Democrat
caucus to resign and be replaced by people of honor and integrity. It
is at that point that the analysis seems to fade into fantasy.
Sadly,
at this time in history, Turley’s view is a case of not seeing the
forest for the trees. Instead of decorum being the way unity is
maintained as in the past, decorum now serves mainly as a mask covering a
profound dislocation, a profound disunity. Her lack of decorum and the
unconscionable, implacable hostility of the Democrats of the House and
Senate reveals the extreme political animosity that presently afflicts
our country.
We
are faced with an incredible disunity, so intense that no appearance of
unity in the form of decorum can cover it up. The grim face of that
disunity appeared at the State of the Union address, and was most
visible in the egregious behavior of Speaker Pelosi.
Decorum
is only one aspect of unity, but can never substitute for unity. If
unity of purpose, of conscience, and of our varied constituencies is not
present then decorum becomes a mere cover-up. Our national motto is e pluribus unum not e pluribus decorumatum.
Decorum
has morphed over the past few decades into being a mask over the truth
that laws have been passed and policies enacted that have not been of
the people, by the people nor for the people. Ill-conceived and
destructive policies have been implemented and decorum is only the
veneer of “bi-partisanship.”
The
jungle rot of the past 40-50 years of identity politics, globalism
(i.e., the dilution of our national sovereignty), shift in our national
identity – for approximately half the citizens -- from land of
opportunity to land of exploitation, out of control immigration (fueled
by our ever-expanding welfare system), and the decline of education
owing to circumvention of the Tenth Amendment and the leftist ideology
of too many educators, have all taken place behind the closed door of
“decorum.”
“Decorum”
was in place when China was admitted to the WTO. This giant step
towards globalism took place under Democratic initiatives that carried
over into the Bush administration. This admission made it easier for
multinational corporations to open new markets in the Peoples’ Republic
of China, but it also made China wealthier, and enabled the tyrants
heading up that country to consolidate their power. We aided and
abetted tyranny thereby, but because of decorum – to maintain a veneer
of gentlemanly acceptance – the utter horror of that decision was not
brought to the fore. Bi-partisanship and decorum merged to create a
false face of “progress.”
There
was a ridiculous decorum shown by Pres. G.W. Bush when he was vilified
incessantly as Hitler and insulted day and night by the Dems. Unlike
Pres. Trump, he did not say a peep. He remained above the fray,
determined not to stoop to the level of his critics and the
mean-spirited ones who heaped scorn upon his word choice errors and
scorned him publicly and incessantly as a mental midget.
Decorum
was in place by upping federal invasion of local prerogatives in
education with the No Child Left Behind legislation and with Race To The
Top Moneys. These initiatives enabled federal leverage on state
education policy via implementation of social engineering through Common
Core. Not only are the educational premises of this program dubious,
but students must answer 400 personal questions which go into a federal
database permanently.
When
this writer was growing up prior to 1973, both major parties accepted
the value of every life, including the unborn. Some objected, but it
was a moral norm not to abort babies although many still did so. The
Republicans, believing in decorum, did not denounce Democrats
relentlessly, nor did they organize protests against the Democrats at
their conventions for their stand on this issue. Yes – children can be
dismembered and killed because mommy lacked self-control and couldn’t
stay in a vertical position, and then, feeling that a newborn will
interfere with her party life or other indulgences and comforts decides
to do away with the child.
Just
as the cultural Marxists have aspired to destroy the American family,
we see Obergefell v. Hodges allowing the marriage of two men or two
women cutting against thousands of years of family identities in all
tribes, nations, cultures, and continents. But decorum says there will
be differences of opinion on the most controversial matters, and we must
applaud politely for the rights of others with whom we disagree. How
can homosexual marriage be considered a Constitutional right when it was
voted down in 36 states including twice in California? Education,
birth, and marriage are not governed from Washington under the
enumerated powers; yet, at present, they are so governed with relatively
little pushback. Why so little pushback? The answer: decorum.
Professor
Turley’s concern for decorum is a call to continue the false face of a
false unity and a false message to the American people. When candidate
Trump called Hillary a crook, he broke all decorum since Hillary had
been a First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, and Presidential nominee
of the Dems. With a resume like that, calling her a crook was deemed by
many as rude and unacceptable. Yet, many of us loved that insult of her
majesty, Ice Queen of Narnia. The days of decorum as a valid hiding
place were coming to an end. We all know a “fish rots from the head
down.” Nancy revealed herself at the State of the Union as the source
of the stinking, rotten, soulless behavior of the Leftocratic House. Her
“mistakes” are actually a revelation.