Freedom Means Always Having to Say No

New York Times columnist Gail Collins writes in her Saturday, September 26, 2010 column about a women’s museum (http://nyti.ms/9CZgj5) being blocked because Senators Tom Cogburn and Jim DeMint have put the bill to sale the land for the museum site on hold, a senate priviledge. The museum would require no federal funds, and the government would receive fair value from the land sale.

It is really surprising that two denizens of freedom and small government turn their backs on free enterprise and use the singular power and weight of the entire national government assigned to them to put a celebration of freedom on hold?

There are major subtexts here. (And a chance for parody!) Clearly, Sen. Coburn’s office is engaged in a high level of paranoia, is bunkered against citizen conspiracies that threaten the social order and shows a wee bit of obsession.
Which government employee took how many “man” hours to assemble a list that has little in common except women are the namesakes, donors, or participants of the list’s focused activity? Have women morphed into the old cliché once applied to blacks, they all are the same when it comes to honoring their achievements? (Who remembers that President Ford once thought his black Transportation secretary was a servant?) Why the fear of imaginary fund requests? Is this a delusion? Hasn’t the Senator, as demonstrated by his present action, mastered the art of just say no?

Why not simply say every birth certificate issued for a female birth in the US is official recognition of the life and contributions of women – even while holding up the idea to review the 14th amendment’s right to birthright citizenship for women born to women in America under its explicit protections?

Does Jim DeMint have bonafides with Sarah Palin? Does she approve this? Has she been sent a message via twitter?

Have we seen the birth certificates for these two senators? Does anyone else see their sleath actions as an attempt to topple this country created by mothers? Are not their actions “outside of our comprehension?”