Exhaustion? For a part-time job where you collect 150K in
salary and are granted all the travel and benefits of a celebrity with no work
history to speak of. Tired, from holding a position in congress because of
nothing more than being the son of a charlatan who is an alleged “face” of
black America?
Seems legit (sic).
Then it dawned on me. Maybe he is tired of being under scrutiny
via the House ethics investigation? Could Jesse Jackson’s son be troubled by pesky
ethics investigation? I would say the apple doesn’t fall very far from the
tree, so that cannot be it. Maybe, just maybe he is literally tired from
travel? Jet lag is a real problem and Jesse Jackson Jr has done plenty of
travel via paid junkets during his time in DC.
So I took a visit over to Legistorm.com and what I found was
pretty telling. Now Jackson’s 58
trips don’t come close to Maxine Waters (who at last count was the leading trip
taker with over 100 trips) but I suppose all paid expense trips with a part
time gig that pays six-figures can be stressing.
Now what I found interesting when looking over these paid
junket trips was that many names on the most traveled list were names from
members on the CBC.
If you exclude those congress members that were not holding
office for any reason due to things such as election loss, retirement or death;
Democrats would make up 20 of 20 in the top trip takers.
Of those Top-20 trip takers, 13 of them are members of the
Congressional Black Caucus. That means 2/3 of the Top-20 come from a caucus
divided by race that is not only a minority in society but a minority in
congress as well, with only 40 members. If the 112 Congress has 435
Representatives and the CBC has 40 members
(9%) isn’t 65% of the Top-20 trip takers out of synch statistically?
This Caucus jet sets around the country to allegedly speak
about issues pertaining to black people. I suppose that is noble. Is it
logical? Not according to the Constitution. After all, are not the members of
congress representing a district in a state first and foremost? And if so, are these
districts not composed of all types of races and ethnic groups?
How can we understand this idea that elected members of
congress only bound by their skin tone, elected from various districts across
the country by all types of ethnicity travel all over the country to cater to
the ideas and needs of one ethnic group over everyone else actually help the
districts they were elected to represent?
I simply cannot understand how this is acceptable.
Unless you have a district composed of 100% Black Americans,
its disingenuous to cater to said Black American’s because you represent a
district, not an ethnicity. However, if it was entirely made up of black folks;
then it’s a different matter. But no district is that way.
For example, if I am white and vote in the 5th
district of Missouri and I voted for Emanuel Cleaver because I am a staunch
Democrat; how does he truly represent me? If he is traveling across the country
focused on the needs of Black Americans in the state of California,
sharing the needs of those in Missouri
its obvious he represents the needs of Black Americans in his district but what
about everyone else, does he value their needs as well?
The answer is clear; he doesn’t… well at least not as much
as he does those of similar skin tone. And this isn’t just some anecdotal
scenario I made up to make my point lacking data; the data is there. The fact
is that 13 of the 40 members of the 112th Congressional Black Caucus
represented areas where black folks were the minority. So we have 13 members of
Congress on the Top-20 traveled list from the 40 member CBC.
And 13 of the 40 districts in the CBC are
not even black as a majority. This to me is astounding. But what does it all
mean?
It means that the Congressional Black Caucus is no different
than any other group of collectivists. They are limited by their own narrow
definitions that they oppose and because of this opposition it’s ironically
what also defines them by default. Where is the outrage? Where is the
indignation for a group that is fueled not only by division and bound by their
hunger for power and job security? Because remember, if Black Americans no
longer voted strictly by race and political affiliations, wouldn’t these “race
hustling pimps” be out of a job?
Some absolutely would. So at the end of the day, what works
best for “Black America”? The politicians that keep them isolated and divided
from other races, as if they can’t do for themselves? Or is it the idea of
freedom, the idea that nobody should be judged on their content of their skin
but yet the content of their character?
The more social programs and special attention you give to
Black Americans the more you ostracize them as a whole. The division that
exists in this country whether it is: political, race, religious etc is real
but it can all be cured if people chose freedom and held individual liberty
above all. The CBC pits race vs race. It
attempts to take from one person and give to another in the name of the greater
good, even at the expense of the person they are sworn to be helping. There is
actual black on black crime and there is this. These are not crimes in the
literal sense, but make no mistake; this is a betrayal of the highest order.