Rep. Jeff Denham: Now we know.
First the airlines are unfairly pilloried in the media thanks to an ignorant serviceman’s YouTube complaint about being charged excessive baggage fees for his gear….despite the fact that 1) the airlines already give servicemen discounts on extra bags (though they shouldn’t) and 2) the fees charged will be reimbursed, just like my business travel costs are reimbursed by the people who hire me.
Now Congressman Jeff Denham (R-CA) has introduced a non-binding resolution in the House that threatens to use contracts between the military and commercial airlines to punish carriers that do not waive all baggage fees for deployed military personnel.
Rep. Denham’s resolution has its good side: now we know that he is unethical, a fool beyond redemption, and a bully as well.His resolution couldn’t be put into law, because it’s unconstitutional. Congress can’t suddenly decide to force private businesses into giving away products or services to special classes of citizens. His resolution is a breach of accountability and responsibility, because Congress is responsible for finding the money to pay for sending soldiers into battle and bringing them back home, and it is stunningly irresponsible to just pass the buck—literally—to the private sector, which pays its share in taxes already.
His scheme is wildly unfair, targeting airlines for merely doing business, making them waive fees that they have no obligation to waive, and piling on an unfairly maligned industry based on an accusation that was unfair too. It is an abuse of Congressional power. It is hypocritical: Denham’s party is challenging the individual mandate in the health care reform law as an unconstitutional extension of the power of Congress to dictate individual conduct, and this is an even more questionable effort to use Congressional power to force the airlines to pick up the tab for the military’s expenses, as if it doesn’t get enough money to spend already.
Denham’s resolution is nothing but extortion, genuine gangster government. And it is stupid beyond belief, bolstered by Denham’s asinine statement, aimed at constituents with the IQs of sugar beets.The Representative said on his website:
“Our service men and women risk their lives every day to protect our country and this resolution is one more step to ensure that America honors its commitment to our Service Members. The resolution has received bipartisan support with 37 co-sponsors and seeks to make sure our military men and women are treated with the utmost respect for their service to our country.”
I reach three conclusions from this sorry episode:
First, every one of those 37 brain-dead, extortion-supporting, irresponsible House members should be sent packing at the earliest possible time, since they clearly do not comprehend the concepts of responsibility, accountability, and fairness. Start with Denham, whose comprehension of liberty and freedom is so flawed that he can’t be trusted to decide anything more complicated than the color scheme on his website.
Second, respect will be shown to America’s servicemen by the people responsible for sending them into harm’s way to pay the expenses of doing so,rather than try to duck the costs of their actions by making someone else pay with a gun to their heads.
Third, Americans should overwhelmingly side with the airlines against this Congressional bully, no matter how much we detest those baggage fees ourselves. As Steve Lott, of the Washington, D.C.-based Air Transport Association, said, “The airline industry has a long history of supporting the military…. But we certainly oppose the government or Congress trying to regulate or dictate what services airlines can and cannot provide and what they can charge for those services…The customer and market forces should decide… not a congressman. Does the government tell hotels what services they should provide or whether they should charge for Wi-Fi or parking?”
Not yet, it doesn’t. But give it time, if we can’t elect a critical mass of representatives who are fairer and smarter than Jeff Denham.
Ethics Alarms 
I understand his reasons why, Jack. But, like most conservatives, I think this smacks of a knee jerk reaction to an event before all the facts were in. I’ve said so, as have a number of my associates. As you say, it is not the business of the government to place such mandates on any person, private concern or state. In fact, that’s at the very heart of our opposition to the Leftist agenda. Naturally, we’re firmly in favor of respect for members of the Armed Forces. But again- as you say- providing for military personnel in transit is the function of the logistical apparatus, not a benefit to be imposed on the airline at its own expense. In Delta’s defense, they are usually noted for their overall respect for veterans. Their personnel in question were simply trying to follow procedures. The entire matter could have easily been handled in private if the media hadn’t gotten a hold of it and some congressmen jumped to the wrong conclusion. It’s easy enough to do, I guess, after the outrages against troops over the past forty years. But it behooves an elected leadership to think and research before they act rashly. Any veteran could tell them that!
Jeff Jacoby had written about this as well.
In that same article, he wrote about an event equivalent to an Islamic imam holding a prayer service in celebration of Denny’s Baconalia.
Normally I’d care, except that they pass non-binding resolutions for all sorts of idiotic reasons. It’s a way for a congressman to claim to be “doing something” without actually having to do to the trouble. [Higher Power] bless America ..
-Neil
Yikes, an “everybody’s an idiot” rationalization! Me, I’d rather flag these guys so we can get rid of them.