Well we knew it would happen. Pennsylvania would inevitably just deem itself a royal oligarchy unto itself – Democracy is dead here in the Princedom of Pennsylvania. Rather, Pennsylvanians are now governed by a group of hungry pseudo-aristocrats, who we foolishly once elected. Our state government has decided to use public money for the advancement of its own private interests. My taxes, peon that I am, must now pay the cost of our royalty’s legal bills, so they can keep both the exorbitant raises and the “unvouchered expenses” they recently gave themselves. Our money is now their money, and they are suing us so they don’t have to tell us where they spend their “unvouchered expenses”.
“Oh my dear Prince Jubelirer shall We have Beluga?” “No, fellow Duke Cappy, We shall serve roast swan and Napoleon brandy at Our royal gathering!” “And to think those whiners still imagine there’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans. Pay up and shut up I say. They should be grateful we don’t just eat them!” “Oh Ralph you are so, so droll!”
Yes, by regal edict and decree, we, once the people of a past commonwealth, must now pay the legal bills of our rulers who intend to keep our resources for personal gain. John Locke in the Second Treatise of Government actually recommends revolution at this point, and we are doing our best, but it is expensive to fight such an over bloated group of grifters we once called legislators and judges. I only hope our national government, after attending to the American Bosnia/Darfur once known as Louisiana, will take a look at our little self-officiating mini aristocracy, Pennsylvania, the current residence of America’s most treasured legal documents, what are they called again? The U.S. Constantly Goosing us Some? I know it’s something like that that’s stored in Philly.
Article comments
1 - OneMonkey'sUncle
After reading the article, I can understand your frustration. But if you put it in corporate terms, it does make sense. The legislators are your employees, working on your behalf. Someone claims they have done something illegal while performing work on your behalf, and they've sued your employee. Are your employees not entitled to legal representation when they're accused of a crime? Should you not pay their legal expenses, since they were acting on your behalf?
This case is an extreme one, and I can certainly understand that it would tick off Pennsylvanians. Don't forget you have an alternative that most corporate employers would probably not have in this instance: you can "fire" those employees in the next election period.
Won't get you your money back, true; but a good, strong course of "Throw the bums out!" is good for the spirit.
2 - carmine
Hi OneMonkey'sUncle,
I expected a good comment from someone who DOES have a good sense of humor. I may be a conservative, but to my mind who isn't. Cripes we're all trying to conserve something: rights, money, hair...
carmine
3 - Marcia L. Neil
As a native of Pennsylvania, the
'royal' attitude stems from the fact that networks of opportunists negotiate among themselves for an opportunity to carry us away, using any number of rationales-made-real -- such as
'anyone could have invented the safety pin', attempted 'enforcement' of arranged marriages using textbook passages as reference, the German immi-grant heritage so close to New York, the state fish hatcheries (such differ-ent operations from the international ocean netting enterprises), the Quaker reputation, and so forth. Most Penn-sylvanians prefer to develop person-alities, furthermore, rather than endure or sanction the ceaseless mentoring and machinations of opportunists.
4 - carmine
I particularly like the DeWEASLE (head state Democrat) attitude:
"Who says Democrats in Pennsylvania are cowards? We can stand up to our constituency and do just what we want. See? These constituents can't tell US what to do. Those contrite Republicans could learn a thing or two from us tough Democrats!"
Yes, "Throw the bums out."