You Know My Name,
Congressman Bob Etheridge

Eric Renderking Fisk - June 15th, 2010  

In the video that our member from The Electric Speakeasy linked to, we see Congressman Bob Etheridge from North Carolina walking down the street in Washington just as two young men from college with with the camera ask if Mr. Etheridge he fully supports the Obama Agenda.

Etheridge does what any distinguished gentleman in government does in any tyrannical police state does, he grabs this kid and starts demanding to know what's this kids name. Etherege grabs this kid by the wrist, starts twisting his arm while detains him. In a half drunken monotone while trying to grab this kids head, he keeps asking, "who are you, who are you..."

Before the video ends, the young man is able to get out of Etherege's clutch and Etherege walks away. Obviously we can see that both the student holding the camera and the one asking the question are obviously scared. As a dad, I'm scared for these guys.

I'm disturbed by this video for a few perspectives.

First, as a former student of Journalism. One of the first rules of reporting is that before you ask someone a question, you always tell people who you are and where you're from. For example - when I'm doing an article for this site I always say "I'm Eric Renderking Fisk from The Fedora Chronicles." Then you ask your questions or request a comment. Usually you do this in such a way to catch the person off guard so you can get the most honest and raw response. Granted, part of the roll of journalists is to catch them in a game of gotcha, bluntly ask them a question that will provoke a genuine response with some emotion. It might be a little shady, it's a little sensationalist, but the raw responses are telling.

The first mistake these guys made is they didn't disclose who they were. You're college kids working on a project? Then the kid doing the interview should have introduced himself and said what college he was from and then asked the question. These kids aren't professional journalists, they're students. It's their right... no, OBLIGATION to be snarky, bristly, and belligerent. If anything, though, these two were comparatively polite.

Second, as a father - this frightened the hell out of me. I know my kids ask some pretty difficult questions, either to my wife, myself, teachers and preachers, and sometimes random strangers when they're out with me and they think it's safe. They're only 6 and 8 this summer, but they're already pushing the envelope. If they're anything like their father, I'm sure they're going to get bolder.

I was angry when I saw this and I wanted to grab the elected thug myself. He shouldn't be too surprised if one of those were my sons and I paid him a surprise visit in his office: "Hey, Congressman Bob Etheridge. You want to know who I am? I'm that boy's father." Then I would proceed to break both his arms and put him in the hospital. After watching that, I wouldn't be surprised if Congressman Bob Etheridge won't be found mugged in a parking lot or buried in a corn field next to Joe Pesci and a few aluminum baseball bats.

Come on, you're going to manhandle someone's son, someone's boy who's in college like that and not face some consequences? You're not going to have the price of a pound of flesh extracted out of you like water out of a sponge? Hurt one of my kids and it's on camera? You better walk while still have your knees intact to do so.

Finally as a citizen I'm concerned. Is this where our society is heading? If you ask a politician or any public official a question that's deemed inappropriate, that's what you can expect? We can expect violence from a bureaucrat for simply stating an opinion or concern? Are the domestic critics of this country right when they say that this nation is becoming a tyrannical dictatorship? As things are getting progressively worse in the arena of partisan discourse, it's only safe to assume that this is the start of something. Politicians are becoming bolder, more elitist. There's an entitlement mentality from anyone who's been appointed by the parties then anointed by voters, they have the "right" to be this rude.

I'm not saying that this is the beginning of the end and this is what's going to cause the end of our civilized society. This is a sign of how bad things are so far.

This past weekend I've been dwelling on the decision to run for political office myself. When I went to register my wife's car this Friday, the town clerk thought I was their to register to run for State Senate instead. She was disappointed when I told her no, I didn't even know that was the day to sign up. A few other people here in town asked me if I was running, a lot of people here seem keen on my running for public office and said that they would vote for me regardless of political affiliation. When I brought this up on the forum, many people were very vocal in their discouragement. They said that they were afraid that politics would corrupt me, or that they would lose on of their favorite watchdogs. One of our members wrote: "Don't do it. It will change you for the worse."

Where can I be the most use to people - in politics or in the independent media? I ask this because I see both courses wrought with trouble. If this or a future administration passes a bill like the "fairness doctrine" and this behavior becomes the norm - during societal meltdown bad behavior always becomes normalized - there will be no safe haven for "watchdogs" or reporters who go against the grain of the establishment. Becoming part of the process and system, I can see myself becoming marginalized and vilified. I'm already on a couple of watch lists as it is, so a political career might be a moot point.

All the more reason for people like us to shout down politicians like Congressman Bob Etheridge while we still can before the brown shirts and crooked crosses on the armband stomp us down with the black boots .