Vladimir Lenin, the Russian communist politician, led the Bolsheviks for 27 years.
Dictator Joseph Stalin controlled the Soviet Union for 29 years.
Henry III reigned over England for 38 years.
Fidel Castro’s Communist ideologies ruled Cubans for 49 years.
Robert Byrd’s tenure in Congress, however, outlived them all and lasted 58 years.
Working in both the House of Representatives and Senate for over a half a century, what legacy does Robert Byrd leave this country after his death early yesterday morning? Despite claiming that “intolerance has no place in America,” he joined the Ku Klux Klan in his early 20’s and even unyieldingly opposed the Civil Rights Act as late as 1964, which he filibustered for over 14 hours. His countless apologies for numerous bigoted statements over the years, however, are sure to be overshadowed by this professional politician’s perpetual push for pork.
Although Byrd occasionally claimed to favor fiscal restraint, his relentless bartering of his vote on bills in exchange for pet project funding proved otherwise. As we mark the end of his clamped hold of the public coffers, no fewer than 30 taxpayer-funded public services projects currently named after him have been left behind. The self-anointed “Big Daddy” of West Virginia cast nearly 19,000 votes during his tenure and brought over $1 billion of pork projects to his state at the expense of taxpayers around the nation from 1995-2006 alone. Thanks to the Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), we the taxpayers have an extensive list tallying Byrd’s pork projects (a.k.a. “Byrd Droppings”) that accumulated over the years. He proudly burned holes in our pockets, claiming: “They call me 'The Pork King,' they don't know how much I enjoy it.” Clearly. Why else would he have erected a bronze statue of himself in his state’s Capitol Rotunda?
Senator Byrd leaves behind a classic example of the fiscal recklessness our Congress continues to force upon the working private sector by funding every personal pet project they can dream up for their individual states. During a Senate floor debate in 2001, Byrd stated that "one man's pork is another man's job... You can look around and see what I've done." For professional politicians like Byrd, they believe their roles are less about protecting individual liberty and limiting their responsibilities to those within the scope of the Constitution and more about creating personal accomplishments, building a name for themselves, and making history.
Combined with a lack of term limits and a tangled web of gerrymandered congressional districts, politicians conveniently find themselves reelected and continually in a position to redistribute the wealth of the nation at their flawed discretion.
Ironically, Congress’ approval rating has been on a slow, steady decline over the past few years. How then, when less than 20% of the population approve of how Congress does its job, do our politicians still have the nerve to pat themselves on the back? How is it, that when their phone lines are perpetually flooded with the begging requests of constituents to oppose bills or at least read the legislation they intend to enforce before casting a vote, that they feel as though they’ve fulfilled their sworn obligation to the public and earned their $174,000 annual salary?
ABC News Contributor Cokie Roberts claimed that Byrd will be remembered “as the guardian of the Senate, as an institution.” If this is true, then our nation can only hope that Senator Byrd’s disgraceful legacy of fiscal irresponsibility will swiftly follow and die with him, so his death can mark the turning point in our history when future Congressmen and women will act as guardians of the Constitution and protectors of the people instead of defenders of their reelection careers.
~Gee
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