I confess to being so politically apathetic that I wasn't even aware that my Congressman (Elijah Cummings) is on whatever committee it is that decided to grill Clemens yesterday. Further, Cummings was the one who elicited the now-famous response from Mark McGwire back in 2005 - "I'm not here to talk about the past. I want to talk about the future," while somehow not actually invoking the 5th Amendment.
As it happens, I've been talking with Mike Hargadon, who is running against Cummings this fall, in a heavily Democratic district. While the subject of wasting taxpayer time and money resonates with all of us, I didn't think it would with local voters.
But after considering for a while, I realized that maybe this WOULD be a good issue to bring up in the race. Let's consider what is really going on here. Why did Congress bring baseball players to Capitol Hill to talk about steroids twice?
I'm sure the Congressmen involved would say that they were trying to do a public service or something of that nature. But is that really true? Lots of entertainers use illegal drugs. Can anyone name the last entertainer who wasn't a baseball player who was brought before any Congressional committee to discuss his illegal drug use? (If anyone can, I'd appreciate it.)
We don't see Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears or Keith Richards being dragged in front of Congress to testify about the various substances they are putting in their body. WHY NOT?
The answer cuts to the heart of something else that Ron Paul speaks out against, something that Democratic voters especially should take notice of. You see, Major League Baseball has an anti-trust exemption granted by Congress. I'm a little unclear what the benefits of this exemption are, but the basic story is that there ARE benefits to having this exemption. However, whenever baseball does something that Congress doesn't approve of, Congress can haul MLB down to Capitol Hill and threaten to remove the exemption. It's the classic example of government in bed with Big Business.
Now let's broaden the argument. Is this the only industry where this is happening? Ha. Government provides benefits to an industry or a company. In return, the government expects certain favors from Big Business. It's corporatism, as Ron Paul calls it, plain and simple.
So I think in general, the baseball hearings are an indication of Congressional abuse of power. More specifically, I think we can use Cummings' grandstanding against him, especially if we can dig up any dirt on him being involved with corporate lobbyists.
Any comments on this? I'm going to meet with Mike soon and may even be on his campaign team. But I confess to being new at this. I'm short on experience, but long on enthusiasm. Thanks in advance for your input.
Z
