Thread by @JMHendersonSr

By what means does Congress exercise the Legislative power that the States have delegated to it?

In The Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton explained that Congress exercises two kinds of force: the power of the purse and the power of legislating.

@AOC
@RashidaTlaib

But in exercising either kind of force -- purse strings or law-making -- Congress acts VERBALLY.

Everything that Congress accomplishes, it does by word, and more particularly, by the written word.

This assertion is even true as to the words spoken in Congress, because these become significant, if at all, by the journaling of those words through the Congressional Record, hearing transcripts, and Committee reports.

"That's nice, Jim. But so what?"

I understand impatience when a speaker's point has not crystalized in the auditor's mind. So allow me to make the point plainly.

If a person cannot speak plainly ... if a person cannot render in words the thoughts of her mind ... if one lacks the facility to communicate clearly, they should not be tasked with the responsibilities attending to service in the Congress.

A person that cannot make the meaning of their thoughts known through the use of their words, they should not write the laws that others must obey on pain of the loss of liberty, of property, or of life.

So, after months of threatening the Nation with "12 years to save the planet," @AOC tells us that she, a Big Apple gurl, has been using "dry humor" to make the case for drastic and costly action to address climate change.

And @RashidaTlaib speaks of the calming of the soul that thoughts of the Holocaust bring to her.

These inartful and inarticulate demagogues would determine the liberties of others by crafting the policies of the Nation. Yet, through infacility with the language, they show as great a danger to the common good as a toddler with a handgun.

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