Massachusetts Congresswomen Don't Need to Protest

Massachusetts Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley and Katherine Clark were arrested for peacefully protesting the recent decision of the Supreme Court to return abortion laws to the individual 50 states that make up the United States.

Regardless of your opinion of the Dobbs case, don't take this publicity stunt seriously.

There is nothing serious or effective about members of Congress acting like powerless college students protesting a rise in tuition.

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Pressley and Clark aren't powerless; quite the opposite. They are equal partners with the President of the United States and the Supreme Court in the government of the United States. They have the power to write and pass federal laws, unlike everyone else in the country who isn't elected to Congress.

Representative Clark is Assistant Speaker of the House. She doesn't need to scream and chant to get her point across on abortion or any other issue at the federal level – but it's more fun to scream and send out fundraising requests than it is to write laws and build a coalition to pass the legislation in Congress.

Here's an idea: the Congresswomen could cut the budget of the Supreme Court to indicate their displeasure with the recent decisions of the Court. They control the purse strings of the entire federal government. The Supreme Court can't buy a pencil without the money allocated by Congress.

Public protests are for the powerless, not elected officials. Can you imagine Tip O'Neill or Bob Dole carrying placards and chanting slogans while their equals in government ignored them? Ridiculous.

When the citizens of the Commonwealth elected you and the other Democrats to the House of Representatives, they lent you their God-given power. You have real power and you should use it if you disagree so strongly with the Supreme Court.

Acting like a protester makes you look weak, not influential.

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