Friday, Weekend, and Monday (W2)

On Friday, I did very little.  I was a floor/door page so I opened the doors to the House for the speaker that morning but no one throughout the entire day called for a floor page all throughout Friday.  A floor page waits until a member or whoever presses one of the buttons one the seat in the on the floor.  We have a system at the Democratic Page Desk that tells us where the seat is but I never got to use it.   It kind of worked out because the session was short on Friday.  Nearly all of the members leave DC for home on Friday and don't return until early Monday.  While I was listening to the dialogue, I started thinking about what a democratic system really is.  Is it where the people have the ability to choose or should they be provided and helped by their government if needed?  They were discussing health care and I was split on whether a government-run system would be better or the current plan based on choice.  A government-run system would allow citizens to continue the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness by not having to worry about their health.  But, the essence of choice and election is lost.  But in the plan of choice, some just simply cannot afford it and they lose care for their health by those who govern them.   Anyway, we got off work early and a bunch of us took the metro across town  to Pentagon City where we all pitched in for a beat up gamecube.   It doesn't work half the time but it was cheap and kills some time.   Saturday, my roommates and I, along with the room across from us and a few other kids hung around while mostly everyone went to a gay pride parade on the mall.  Many of us were asked why we didn't go and we answered simply with this:  We have nothing against those of a different sexual orientation we just have no interest in going to a parade to support them.  It's true and was nice enough to not offend some of the homosexual people here.  I guess if I am going to be in DC a lot more I should get used to this.  After that fiasco, we went to Chinatown and saw The Hangover which was absolutely hilarious.  Sunday was "mob day."  We formed an "Italian mob" simply out of boredom and I earned title of Luigi.  We did...well...you know...carried out business...Don't worry.  It was all in good fun and no one got injured.   On monday, I was a statement page.   I'm not sure if I explained this already, but basically I collect the papers the Democratic speakers talk from after introducing a bill/resolution/amendment/motion and take it up to the gavel (center) where the clerk of the house sits.  Legislative business didn't start until 2 pm so I did little until then.  But it is pretty funny at the font size some of the members use on their statements.  Some of the text is in like 35 size font.   I also went to the bathroom in the member's bathroom "by accident."  Let's just say the bathroom is nicer than anyone's house in Newtown.  It's nearly all marble with a view outside of the capitol building and a shoe-shiner.  It's ridiculous.   Legislative business was ridiculous as well.  Everything was about renaming post offices around the country for various people or sumo wrestling or Bill Cosby or Hank Aaron.  No joke.   I wonder why the general public thinks congress "wastes time."   But there were interesting parts.  They talked about Afghanistan with reconstruction, condemning North Korea (as if that was a new policy), and recognizing the Winston Churchill memorial in Fulton, Mizzou.   Now being the good AP Euro student I was, I knew immediately of the significance of the town, because Fulton was where Churchill gave his infamous Iron Curtain Speech.   I also thought about human nature when listening as a statement page.   I realized that our congress was created and formed the way it is as a response to views of human nature as "bad."  Many quotes from school monday morning and last week talked about how congress "doesn't work" on purpose.  It's job isn't to create laws, but to prevent bad laws from being formed.  That's why it goes into tedious processes, takes forever to react, is split into 2 houses, etc.  So was congress formed out of fear?  Was it created the way it was to prevent not create?  Did our founding fathers see things in Europe that infringed on our human rights (bill of rights) and looked to prevent it rather than encouraging the good?  I'm not sure...you tell me....