Carte Blanche: The Very Unexpected Coalition In Congress
Rashida Tlaib - Bill Clark & Justin Amash - Bloomberg
The virus has sculpted an air of desperation and a formerly unfathomable amount of free time which have jump-started a trend of both political empathy and surveilling eyes on the day to day activities of government. What an asinine time for politicians to be… politicians. Government taking a national emergency and exploiting it to curate the perfect circumstances to guarantee the passage of an outrageously expensive omnibus bill is to be expected, for some. I’m not surprised. My fellow libertarians that have kept a close eye on the government for years aren’t surprised. However, this time, everyone’s watching.
In the very beginning of the pandemic my phone blew up with text messages: “So how about those libertarian ideas now?” and “I bet you didn’t consider a pandemic when you decided you favor small government!” Those voices have since fallen silent and a scourge of previously apolitical ones have taken their place: “Is this what you’ve been talking about?!” and “the government spends how much on what?” Hey, we can’t all be geniuses, but I’m happy to be of service.
This all too common growth of political involvement is what makes calling this bill COVID-relief pretty ballsy, but, thankfully, not many people are buying it. Even many members of Congress have spoken up about it, but not nearly as many stood up to vote against it. For example, AOC admirably tweeted about how outlandish it was that Congress was expected to vote on a 5,000+ page bill in a matter of hours - but then she voted in favor.
But there are always exceptions. Another Twitter famous member of Congress, and my personal favorite, is the only libertarian member of Congress, Justin Amash. He spread similar heroic messages about the bill throughout twitter, one too good not to quote, “Had congressional leaders put a bill on the floor months ago, open to deliberation and amendment--something not done in either house of Congress--we could have provided substantive, timely, and recurring direct cash relief to the people instead of a towering pillar or corporatism.” The difference is Amash put his vote where his mouth was, voting against the bill. Speaking of the majority of Congress he said, “They passed 5,593 pages they didn’t read.”
As for AOC and other members who expressed concern with the bill, but still went along with it, argued they were forced to. AOC even likens the decision to captivity. That’s simply an easy cop out to transfer the responsibility away from themselves. No member of Congress was forced to vote in favor of the bill. Representative Rashida Tlaib is my favorite example of that. Unlike AOC, she is proof that sometimes even borderline communists have more balls than Republicans.
Tlaib, the first woman of Paelstinanian descent to become a member of Congress, a self proclaimed democratic socialist, voted against the bill. In an August 2018 interview she said, “Corporate greed can hurt. I’ll take that lens to Congress, and I will not waver.” It appears she didn’t. Her tweet addressing the bill sarcastically as “Covid” relief is proof she sees through the nonsense. This isn’t her first advancement for liberty. She is a staunch supporter of abolishing ICE and aggressively against war.
Tlaib wasn’t the sole Democrat to vote against the bill. The crowd favorite of liberty lovers - Tulsi Gabbard - also voted no. Anyone who has been following Tulsi isn’t surprised. She has stood up to the crony establishment time and time again. She called out the Obama administration's wars, stood up to Kamala Harris about her strict reign as a prosecutor, and ran a presidential campaign based around a foreign policy that would strive to leave the world alone. Of her decision to vote no she said, the bill “gave billions to corporate interests, the military industrial complex & other countries, leaving crumbs for you who need help most.”
Senator Rand Paul, son of the libertarian icon Ron Paul, also voted against the bill. Rand took it one step further, he compiled a waste report (something he has done every year for six years) that highlights over $54 million of wasted spending by the government in 2020. The timing of the release created the perfect juxtaposition with the pork filled so called COVID relief bill. No one had to tell Rand to vote this way; everyone knew he would.
Another voice of reason in this unexpected coalition of (sometimes) liberty lovers in Congress is Senator Ted Cruz. I’ll be the first to admit, Cruz can be a bit unpalatable - but his objections to this bill have been mostly consistent and logical. He even graciously commended AOC on twitter for her thoughts on the bill. He also took to Twitter to remind everyone that he voted against the end of year omnibus bill last year and did so again this year as the bill doubled in size and price, under the guise of relief for everyday Americans.
Justin Amash, Rashida Tlaib, Tulsi Gabbard, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz all stood for their principles in the face of a state that exploited a national emergency to serve themselves. It’s not an easy feat. Many feel betrayed by these members of Congress as their desperation for even $600 grows. Those who feel this way need to remember the bigger picture - that’s exactly what the point of attaching COVID relief to this trend of ever growing corporate interest end of year omnibus bill passing was, if even members of Congress can be bullied into overbearing oligarchic legislation, who will stand up for us?
It’s true. Members of Congress are meant to be representatives. As representatives, should they even have a mind of their own? We don’t care what you think Ms. face-of-our-state, just vote how we tell you. Yet, I’ll tell you something that sounds even better, electing representatives that truly embody our principles, persons who believe in them so deeply we don’t even have to tell them how to vote. This unexpected coalition of representatives did just that, and for that I commend each and every one of them.