Congressional approval ratings tend to fluctuate, but they are at an unprecedented nadir right now.  Here’s one reason why:  Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is fed up.  This is not unusual; senators are normally fed up about something.  But the main source of such angst recently has been that pesky, antiquated liberty thing that just won’t go away.  Jay is really, really fed up with Fox News, but he’s non-partisan because he also doesn’t like MSNBC.  Maybe he’s more of an NPR dude.  And so, hewing to that time-honored senatorial tradition, his idea is to use the force of the state to eliminate that which offends him:

There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: “Out. Off. End. Goodbye.”  It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future.

I don’t think a senator would get very far today trying to use the power of the federal government to shut down a news organization.  Maybe in 10 years or so after the last smoldering ash of the Constitution is sucked up by a D.C. street sweeper, but not quite yet.  It’s disturbing, however, that a senator is fantasizing in this way.  He is uneasy that the people might know what the Hallowed Senate is really up to.  He is livid that the people dare criticize his “work.”  You can see where things inevitably lead when liberals have power.  They are the least tolerant human beings on the planet.  They demand uniformity.  They hate to be questioned.  Senators like Rockefeller recoil at the light of day, because – can’t you understand – they are working hard every day to improve your life; now get out of the way.

Frankly, anything that interferes with Congress’ ability to do its work ought to be encouraged.  I don’t want people like Jay Rockefeller to get any work done at all.  I want every waking hour to be utterly unproductive,  because the “work” he wants to do won’t be good for me, for the country, or for liberty.   So I say:  “Godspeed, all Rockefeller irritants!”