GranolaBox

Going Gangsta in Government

Shortly before the Civil War tension was high in Congress reflected the overall mood of the nation. After fighting broke out in Lawrence, Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces supporters of both sides began having it out in Congress in a war of words. Rhetoric and tempers flared. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Senator from Massachussetts railed against a number of pro-slavery Senators including a low blow making fun of Senator Andrew Butler’s medical disorder.

Two days later, Butler’s nephew, Senator Preston Brooks entered the Senate Chamber, quietly approached Sumner and proceeded to go gangsta on him with his cane. Brooks broke his cane into several pieces during the attack which took Sumner three years to recover from. Brooks became a hero in the South, Sumner a martyr in the North. The attack mirrored the ugliness that was enveloping the nation at the time.

Students are enthralled when I teach about this incident in class. This year, I taught my students about the incident in a discussion about the 2006 election, and that as vicious as the mud-slinging gets around election time, the rancor in Congress remains at a civil level.

I have the great pleasure of having an exchange student from the Czech Republic in my class this year, and asked her about mudslinging, or even violence in the Czech government. She mentioned this incident, and sent me a link to the video below featuring Health Minister David Rath and his right-wing rival, Miroslav Macek.

While I applaud our government officials for not stooping to this level of violence, I wonder if it would be as funny as this video. With tensions rising over the war in Iraq, and the narrow margin by which the Democrats control the Senate, could violence erupt in the Senate chambers? Who would cane who? I’m sure a lot of hawkish Republicans wouldn’t mind getting a few licks in on Harry Reid, or a few stalwart Democrats giving Joe Lieberman ”what-for” for breaking rank.

Then I imagine fiery House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the subject of heaps of verbal abuse in House races across the country, speaking at a posh Washington dinner with former Speakers of the House seated at the dais. Who would be the recipient of the Czech-style bitch-slap? Or, to keep it American, who would be caned… and would it look anything like this?