Stand and Fight

The news just came out the the Democractic members of the Indiana House are fleeing the state in order to avoid a vote on a bill that they don't agree with. Really?

Look, I understand that they and their Wisconsin peers are in really unenviable position. There is a piece of legislation, with which you vehemently disagree, drafted by the majority party, on the floor. You know you don't have a chance. There's nothing you can do to stem the tide.

The Republicans in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate felt the same way on Christmas Eve, 2009, and in March of 2010, respectively. Did they run? No. They argued passionately, with every fiber of their being, and they cast their votes.

Go ahead and flame me if you want to for what you see as a flawed analogy between state houses and the U.S. Congress, but they each level of government has a Constitutionally-binding fiduciary responsibility to its citizens. To turn and run is unseemly, un-American, an irresponsible.

If you don't agree with a bill, stand your ground. Fight it in the chamber where your citizens have given you a voice. Cast your vote, and stand by it. That, friends, is how democracy works.