Did someone really just accuse the Dems of offending God by holding a vote on Sunday? Oh, the silliness that has become our political dialog. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on the Glenn Beck radio program: “They intend to vote on the Sabbath, during Lent, to take away the liberty that we have right from God…”
And now, a word from the real world:
RICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly adjourned its annual legislative session Sunday evening after adopting a two-year, $82 billion budget that cuts millions from education, health care and public safety — curtailing state spending more aggressively than any in generations while fulfilling the new Republican governor’s promise not to raise taxes.
Now, let’s check back on any other blasphemous acts by a legislative body on a Sunday. Wait…I think I remember one. It was Palm Sunday in 2005 when the Republican leadership called a special session to consider the case of Terri Schiavo, who had been in a coma for over a decade and had been declared “brain dead” by her physicians.
From Wikipedia: Soon after Senate approval, the House of Representatives passed an identical version of the bill S.686, which came to be called the “Palm Sunday Compromise” and transferred jurisdiction of the Schiavo case to the federal courts.
To make matters worse, the Senate Bill was passed on Saturday – the Jewish Sabbath, which has been around a lot longer than the Christian Sabbath. But I do understand all of this. The Terry Schiavo legislation was intended to save a woman who was considered to be in a Permanent Vegetative State (PVS). So saving her was a God-like act that deserved a Palm Sunday hearing. But health care legislation is a godless concept that shouldn’t be discussed any day of the week – much less on Sunday.
Not to be outdone, according to Nancy Pelosi, one of God’s closest buds is on her side in the battle for healthcare. Yesterday, on CNN, Pelosi claimed St. Joseph as her ally by describing the Feast of St. Joseph as the time when “…we remember and pray to St. Joseph to benefit the workers of America. And that’s exactly what our health care bill will do.”
I don’t know Joseph personally, so I can’t vouch for his support of the current healthcare legislation, but apparently Speaker Pelosi has an inside source.
Really, Americans, can we halt the absurdity that has become our political discourse? I find it especially galling when religious pomposity enters the dialog. Religious beliefs are absolute, but politics is “the art of compromise.” Even Jesus counseled to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21).
Besides, once you declare that the legislature shouldn’t vote on Sunday because it’s the Sabbath, then you have to start reconsidering the old blue laws that would probably make it impossible to sell beer at an NFL game – or even to play an NFL game. It’s a slippery slope. Let’s get off it.