Theatrical Congress

The pretense of the day appears to be Republican politicians holding hearings in order to get to the bottom of Solyndra. I've heard a few clips. Here is my impression- if the Republicans were remotely serious, they could have some of these bureaucrats they are grilling thrown in jail. One of the clips I heard was some guy going on about how the legal counsel his office got was that they could interpret a law in a way that seemed, at least from what the Republican was saying, contrary to what the actual law said. So, if the Republican was serious about stopping these abuses of power, he'd have that bureaucrat thrown into jail right then and there. Imagine trying to get out of a speeding ticket by saying your legal counsel said it was okay to interpret traffic laws differently, or a shoplifter trying to pull something similar. Does it make the remotest bit of difference whether or not you okayed your actions with some lawyer before you commit a crime? Yes, well, I suppose the reality is that we've move from a nation with some sort of rule of law to a nation ruled by lawyers, and everything will be okay as long as you pay your retainer and throw a lot of consulting work their way, but this is likely to upset the unlawyered classes.

These scams are regularly played, though since this green business is highly unscientific, it'll tank a lot more easily than, say, the Republican's pet industries, like oil and weaponry. The Republican lawyers find pre-existing industries to act as host to their parasitical ways; Democrat lawyers seem to think they can create new industries by fiat. The thing is, they are all lawyers, so the Republicans are unlikely to shove these bureaucrats in jail. Browbeating them is okay, but, if you start jailing them, you'd destablize the very system via which you expect to use for your own nefarious plans.