Nancy Pelosi: Madam Speaker/Auto Honcho
Politics: Detroit is holding its annual auto show, and the go-to source for the media is Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, we tremble for our country.
The North American International Auto Show is among the top exhibitions of its kind. It's where makers from across the world premiere their new models and enthusiasts gather to see the industry's latest innovations. The stars in Detroit should be the cars and the men who build them.
But this year, after Washington bailed out a large chunk of the domestic auto industry with more than $100 billion in taxpayers' money, Pelosi is both celebrity and authority.
When she and an entourage of other elected officials showed up at Cobo Center on Monday, they were treated like industry royalty. "The biggest thing" at the show "is not a vehicle," the Associated Press observed. "It's the heavy Washington presence."
Like a conquistadora presiding over the conquered, the San Francisco Democrat gave her blessing to the state of the U.S. auto industry — and warned the industry that a congressional delegation would return to evaluate the new cartel's efforts.
"We came to listen, to learn, to observe, to measure, to judge what has happened to the investments that were made," Pelosi said. She was referring to the federal bailout — takeover, really — of General Motors and Chrysler, which is not unveiling any new models this year in Detroit, Washington or Chicago.
"We've been impressed," Pelosi the auto maven declared reassuringly. "We have confidence in what has been accomplished, and we'll be back next year again."
At what stage in the regression of American liberty are we when politicians give themselves the authority to pass judgment on what were once private business operations?
As Pelosi schmoozed in the media glow with GM CEO Ed Whitacre Jr., Fiat-Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, tea party activists protested outside in the cold, objecting to this tilted and unfamiliar world in which the political class in essence runs two-thirds of what was once America's proud Big Three.
While Washington is trying to save for political reasons companies that should be left to live or die on their own, these hardy people were attempting to save a principle that inspired the founding of our nation. And unlike Washington, they don't require the use of other people's money.
Politicians are welcome to visit car shows, as they have every right to attend movies, concerts, plays and sporting events. Their public duties should not bar them from legitimate private amusement. It's OK for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to say he felt "like a kid in a candy shop" at the car show. We get what he meant.
But when the speaker of the House gets "behind the wheel of Detroit's auto show," as the Detroit Free Press reported, and is "thronged by reporters and cameras," it's further confirmation that our republic is losing its way.
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