Bucks
Civility Part Two Fitzpatrick
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Last week, I closed my first column about civility in government…or the lack thereof…with a comment from Michael Fitzpatrick. The former Bucks County Commissioner and Republican frontrunner is opposing Congressman Patrick Murphy this November. According to Joe Ferry, in last week’s Herald, Fitzpatrick said the following:
“I’ll lead the charge to reform with good old-fashioned American solutions,” to enthusiastic applause from the audience at a Pennridge town hall meeting. Fitzpatrick was speaking against the Health Care Act, which the President signed into law.
It took 16 paragraphs for readers to reach the end of Ferry’s story but not the end of the health care debate.
“East Rockhill [Township] resident Greg Bencik drew the crowd’s wrath when he asked why the discussion, organized by the self-proclaimed nonpartisan Bucks County Public Policy Roundtable, included only physicians opposed to [President] Obama’s plan,” Ferry’s article continued.
“Bencik scolded panel members for distorting the truth about reform,” Ferry reported. “You are doing a disservice to the democratic process by having a one-sided discussion,” Bencik said.
“I would have voted against the Obama health care if I’d been your congressman,” Fitzpatrick told me during my recent interview. “[Congressman] Patrick Murphy wants to lead us toward socialized medicine. Obama care will lead to cuts in Medicare.
“I’m for a free market health system,” Fitzpatrick stated. “Congress should have legislated changes to the health system piece by piece. Where there’s agreement, congress should make changes.”
Fitzpatrick emphasized his independence during the one term that he served in 2005 and 2006. He told me that he was recognized as one of the most independent members of Congress. “It was quite a distinction because I was a freshman congressman,” he said. “I voted my principles first; my district’s needs second, and my [political] party third, in that order.
“Even though Republicans held both houses during President [George W.] Bush’s second term, I voted against several GOP sponsored bills,” Fitzpatrick said. “I opposed President Bush’s energy policy because it was too rich in subsidies and tax breaks for the oil companies. And it contained insufficient encouragement for nuclear energy.
“I voted against a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution mandating marriage as a heterosexual institution,” Fitzpatrick added. “The definition of marriage should be left to the states to decide.”
The former congressman had several interesting suggestions. Although Fitzpatrick is not running for a U.S. Senate seat, he’s not in favor of ending the filibuster rule in the Senate. “Rules are not the problem,” he says. “The real problem is that people stay in the job too long.”
Fitzpatrick believes in term limits. “Eight years in congress is long enough,” he told me. Fitzpatrick realizes that it’s unlikely for congress to impose term limits on itself. But he has a solution.
If elected, Fitzpatrick will propose ending congressional pensions. “If we stop the pensions, legislators won’t stay forever,” he said. I think that he has that exactly right.
America’s founding fathers were darn near perfect, but they didn’t have the benefit of Monday quarterbacking. In the Constitution of 1787, the framers did not include a restriction to the number of terms congress people could serve. Because they envisioned short congressional sessions, they believed that legislators would do their business and leave the capitol as quickly as possible. Their occupations at home demanded attention.
Alas, legislators have discovered how to turn their jobs into full time occupations. But I stray.
Fitzpatrick recognizes how important the independent voter is. “The registered independent is the fastest growing constituency in the 8th Congressional District,” he says. “There are between 60,000 and 75,000 independents in the district. I lost the 2006 election because voters were angry with President [George W.] Bush because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” And the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina didn’t help Republicans seeking reelection.
Governor Rendell was also running for a second term. And former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, a real lightening rod for discontent, was seeking reelection. “As a result, independents voted overwhelmingly for Patrick Murphy,” Fitzpatrick said. “But that anger has turned 180 degrees,” meaning that the political climate is hostile to incumbents…
…at least it is six months before the November election. That picture may change should voters approve of the changes to health care and the unemployment picture improves.
I asked Fitzpatrick about ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy against homosexuals serving in the military. Coincidentally, Murphy is President Obama’s lead congressman in overturning the law. “Congress should listen very carefully to military commanders and service personnel in the field,” Fitzpatrick told me. “We shouldn’t have the debate while prosecuting two wars.
“We’ll remember this November as a referendum on President Obama,” Fitzpatrick says. “Good people will win and good people will lose because of this President.”
Fitzpatrick gave me his insight to civility when he was first elected to congress. “I’ll always remember that freshman congress weekend in Williamsburg,” he observed. “It was valuable to meet people that could help you regardless of party…people who had causes similar to your own.”
Before we parted company, Fitzpatrick reminded me about George Washington’s rules of civility. When I got home, I did a Google search on the Internet. Our first President transcribed the 110 rules before he reached the age of 16. Here are a few of my favorite rules from Washington’s list:
“It’s better to be alone than in bad company; think before you speak; don’t give advice unless asked, and then be brief; don’t undertake what you can’t perform; keep your promises; play not the peacock; show respect to those present; it is unjust to speak evil of the absent; and finally Rule 110, labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”
Bravo, George Washington!
I hope to have my interview with Congressman Patrick Murphy ready for next week’s edition.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith