When It's All About Baron Hill

Carol Platt Liebau | September 03, 2009 10:33 PM

Daniel Henninger wrote recently about the revolt brewing -- not just nationwide, but worldwide -- as a result of citizens' burgeoning disgust with the arrogance of the political overclass

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Ever wonder why voters are feeling so angry? This video could serve as exhibit A (HT Jim Geraghty). In it, Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) tells a journalism student why she may not videotape his town hall meeting, decreeing:

This is my town hall meeting, and I set the rules, and I've had these rules . . . Let me repeat that one more time. This is my town hall meeting for you. And you're not going to tell me how to run my Congressional office.

What's noteworthy is the vitriol and contempt dripping from his voice.

Hey, buddy, the fact is that this really isn't your town hall meeting. It's your constituents' town hall meeting. Remember them, the ones who pay your salary and vote you into office? Obviously not.

When we increase the size of government and expand its influence into every area of our lives, we make politicians and lawmakers correspondingly more important. And over time, apparently, they can grow to believe that they are so important that they are in charge of us. Not so, friends. We are in charge of them.

With stunts like this, no wonder 57% of Americans would like to replace the entire Congress -- or that 42% believe that a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress.