Cicero's Query

The immortal Roman senator and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero once asked, "Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?"

The question crossed my mind when I learned of what Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) yelled at Barack Obama during his health care address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening: "You lie!"

Wilson's admonishment came in response to Obama's claim that under his health care plan, illegal aliens would not be covered - a claim that anyone with an intelligence quotient higher than that of a pomegranate knows is false. Illegal aliens are already covered by a vast array of already-existing social services, and in fact the Supreme Court has repeatedly declared it unconstitutional for federal, state, and local governments not to provide illegal aliens with those services.

So either Wilson is right, and Obama is a liar, or Wilson is wrong, and Obama is an idiot. Illegal aliens - the core constituency of today's Democratic Party - will be covered by an Obama health care plan, no question about it.

Furthermore, considering the unruly behavior shown by Congressional Democrats (including one Senator Barack Obama of Illinois) during one of President George W. Bush's State of the Union addresses, they really have no basis for complaint. Consider this point from Christopher L. Smith at The Other McCain:

As far as Wilson's two word scuttling of President Obama's speech, I'll throw out the opinion that a different style of leadership would have the POTUS saying "Yeah, I engaged in similarly disruptive behavior under my predecessor's administration, and so I'll give him a nod on this one."

Nonetheless, leftists (along with the usual line-up of squishes from the right) have called Wilson's outburst "undignified" and are demanding that his fellow Republicans censure him. If Republican leaders in Congress had any guts, they would tell the ululating Obamabots to get stuffed and stand up for the courageous South Carolinian. But I am not optimistic that Congressional Republicans will display such intestinal fortitude.

In the meantime, I'll dream of Luckenbach, Texas - symbol of an America where honesty and dignity still reign supreme - the true heir to Cicero's ancient, iconic Roman Republic: