Today’s ‘Violent’ Congress Would Make Civil War-Era Lawmakers Laugh
We’re witnessing tame interactions compared to when politicians would start spitting, hitting and drawing weapons on each other over disagreements.
Fight club
Source: Library of CongressCongressional dysfunction took a dangerous turn this week. In the House, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy allegedly elbowed Representative Tim Burchett in the kidney (McCarthy denied the claim). Not to be outdone, Senator Markwayne Mullin challenged the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, Sean O’Brien, to a fight, with the two men exchanging insults.
For those inclined to believe that these childish provocations auger the end of the republic, please consider life in Congress in the decades before the Civil War. If the politicians of that era could be magically transported to our own Congress, they would likely roll their eyes — thinking that today’s antics are child's play — and say: “hold my beer.”