I find it ironic, and perhaps moronic, to read this morning that state Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) is proposing a bill in the Wyoming Legislature that would apparently take the authority to deploy the National Guard away from the president and give that authority to Congress.
I say ironic and moronic because at the present time we are in the middle of a government “shutdown” caused by the failure, once again, of Congress to do it’s primary job of appropriating funds necessary for the running of our government.
Congress has proved in recent years that it is utterly incapable of functioning at any task other than partisan bickering. They can’t vote up or down on confirmation of judges or cabinet members, and I’m not sure they are even naming Post Offices any longer.
Why would he or we want Congress arguing and dithering about deployment of the National Guard when that almost always occurs in the middle of some emergency when swift and considered action must be taken?
When I was United States Attorney I had a lawyer working for me who failed to timely file a response to a motion by the defense, causing the judge to assume quite correctly that we had no response, so she ruled against us. That lawyer was disciplined and eventually resigned. But no one holds Congress responsible for not passing a budget by the end of the fiscal year.
So I would suggest to Sen. Rothfuss, who is undoubtedly concerned about the use of National Guard troops to put down the “not so peaceful” riots of antifa, etc. that instead he consider the following two actions concerning the Congress:
First, let’s start a process for the States to initiate an Amendment to the Constitution that provides that whenever Congress has failed to appropriate the funds necessary for the operation of our government, the salaries and travel expenses of every member of Congress shall also be immediately frozen - or “shutdown” and not restored until they have performed their duty.
That way they can share in the misery they have wrought.
Second, if that doesn’t work, let's totally abolish and rewrite Article One of our Constitution so that rather than an elected Congress we shall have that authority and responsibility given to a group of third graders from each state, selected at random and without regard to the political party of their parents, but who have demonstrated their competence by having straight “A” grades.
Surely they could do a better job than the partisan morons we have now in Washington.
C.A. “Kip” Crofts, former U.S. Attorney
In 2009 Kip was appointed United States Attorney in Wyoming by President Obama, and he served in that position until 2017 when he resigned after the presidential election of 2016.
