Thursday - December 13, 2007

One of the Hallmarks of a Republic is Thrift and Frugality: $16,000 in Flowers is Royal

Republics, by nature have always been frugal and its people and representatives thrifty. It isn't a surprise that our founders purposefully eschewed the formalities of a monarchal system by banning the titles of royalty. The heroes of the early republic were the yeoman farmers and not the extravagant aristocracy. 

Spending $16,000 on flowers is an outrageous expense for the Speaker of the House. In the article below, Pelosi defends this expenditure by saying she "entertains" leaders of state. Funny, I remember the Constitution ceding foreign policy to the executive branch.

Pelosi said it would take a woman to clean up Washington. Apparently it takes one to spend $16,000 on flowers also.

Spending $16,000 on flowers sounds more like the last days of Rome than the finest days of a vibrant republic:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spent $16,000 on flowers since taking office, one reason why she spent 63 percent more in her high-profile inaugural year than her low-key predecessor did last year.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) spent a little more than $3 million in the first nine months of 2007, records show, compared to the $1.8 million Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) spent during the same period in 2006.

Republicans are spending more as well. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has increased spending 23 percent above what Pelosi spent when she held the same job. That would be 16 percent if some of Hastert’s closing-out costs were deducted.

The spending patterns indicate Pelosi is seeking to restore the Speaker’s role as a counterweight to the president and reclaim some of the responsibilities Hastert had ceded to his aggressive majority leader, Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Because of their different roles, Pelosi aides say it is unfair to simply compare Pelosi’s spending to Hastert’s. Read more....

Trackposted to Stop the ACLU, Wake Up America, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, and Shadowscope, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Author: The Machiavellian
Technorati Tags: Pelosi Politics
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