Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The devil's mouthpiece


Am I more disturbed that some assemblyman from Nevada is a moral cipher akin to some Nazi concentration-camp guard who "vass jusst followink orderss"?

Or am I more panicked that an elected state representative knows so little what it means to be a democratic republic that he thinks our system of government demands that he cast his conscience and judgment -- such as they are -- aside and do whatever his constituents demand. No. Matter. What.

No matter how monstrous. Like voting to bring back slavery.

No matter how insane. Like voting to bring back slavery.

No matter what violence such government by mobocracy might do to the constitutional order that Jim Wheeler, Nitwit-Gardnerville, swore to uphold when he became a member of the Nevada Assembly. Like voting to bring back slavery.

In fact, the Republican lawmaker actually argues against his own presence in the statehouse. Frankly, counting the "likes" on a legislative Facebook page might be much more cost-effective that relying on the judgment Wheeler does not possess and would refuse to exercise even if he did.

IN OTHER WORDS . . . "Holy lynch mob on a stick, Batman!" Just get a load of this from the Las Vegas Sun:
A Nevada assemblyman said he would vote in favor of legislation allowing for slavery if it was something his constituents wanted him to do.
    Jim Wheeler, a Republican from Gardnerville, was talking to a crowd of Storey County Republicans in August he when said “yeah I would” vote for slavery if that’s what his constituents wanted.

    “If that’s what they wanted, I’d have to hold my nose, I’d have to bite my tongue and they’d probably have to hold a gun to my head, but yeah, if that’s what the citizens of the, if that’s what the constituency wants that elected me, that’s what they elected me for,” he said. “That’s what a republic is about. You elected a person for your district to do your wants and wishes, not the wants and wishes of a special interest, not his own wants and wishes, yours.”

    Wheeler said today that he believes “liberal” operatives are trying to frame him as a bigot by spreading video of the statement on the Internet.

    Reached by phone this afternoon, Wheeler now says he would not in actuality vote for anything that would legalize human slavery. Rather, he claimed, he was exaggerating in order to make a point that representing the will of his constituents is important to him. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard if anyone could even fathom believing it,” he said. “I don’t care if every constituent in (Assembly) District 39 wanted slavery, I wouldn’t vote for it. That’s ridiculous.”
    IS THAT what his constituents told him to say? I'd say there's plenty of ridiculousness to go around.

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