efrem1
09-08-2008, 11:51 PM
Thank you Democrats:
Reporter:
Do you think a lot of it (senate workload) is just increased demand from
the public? The expectations of the citizenry are
greater now than they used to be? People expect their
senators to be able to do more?
Buckley:
Yes, that is true today; but I would blame this on the
encroachment by Washington on what used to be
understood to be the exclusive jurisdiction of state
and local governments. Until the Johnson Great
Society programs came on stream, most Americans were
never affected by legislation coming out of
Washington, except the income tax. But now you have a
federal finger in just about every pie. Now, if
people want relief or if they want help, they have
been conditioned to turn to friendly representatives
in Washington.
I happened to be in the office of
Senator Robert A. Taft on the morning of December 8 ,
1941, waiting to be escorted to the Capitol with his
nephew, who was a classmate and friend of mine. We
couldn't get into the House of Representatives to hear
Roosevelt ask for the Declaration of War, but Mrs.
Taft invited us to hear it on her portable radio in a
room off the Senate floor. In any event, while
waiting until it was time to leave, we volunteered to
sort his mail, which filled about a third of a
standard mail bag; and Taft was a fairly important
Senator in those days. Thirty years later (1970), I found
myself serving in the Senate with his son, Robert Jr.
I asked him how many bags of mail he received on the
average morning. He told me four or five. That
difference is a measure of the increased impact of
federal laws on the average citizen over the
intervening years.
Yes government will take care of you.
Reporter:
Do you think a lot of it (senate workload) is just increased demand from
the public? The expectations of the citizenry are
greater now than they used to be? People expect their
senators to be able to do more?
Buckley:
Yes, that is true today; but I would blame this on the
encroachment by Washington on what used to be
understood to be the exclusive jurisdiction of state
and local governments. Until the Johnson Great
Society programs came on stream, most Americans were
never affected by legislation coming out of
Washington, except the income tax. But now you have a
federal finger in just about every pie. Now, if
people want relief or if they want help, they have
been conditioned to turn to friendly representatives
in Washington.
I happened to be in the office of
Senator Robert A. Taft on the morning of December 8 ,
1941, waiting to be escorted to the Capitol with his
nephew, who was a classmate and friend of mine. We
couldn't get into the House of Representatives to hear
Roosevelt ask for the Declaration of War, but Mrs.
Taft invited us to hear it on her portable radio in a
room off the Senate floor. In any event, while
waiting until it was time to leave, we volunteered to
sort his mail, which filled about a third of a
standard mail bag; and Taft was a fairly important
Senator in those days. Thirty years later (1970), I found
myself serving in the Senate with his son, Robert Jr.
I asked him how many bags of mail he received on the
average morning. He told me four or five. That
difference is a measure of the increased impact of
federal laws on the average citizen over the
intervening years.
Yes government will take care of you.