Imagine stepping onto a crowded Metro train at rush hour, then getting poked in the chest and yelled at by the man next to you. It’s worse when you actually know the person and the insults hurled at you involve your employer and the current political debate on Capitol Hill.
In nearly 10 years of riding Metro, I’ve never had a trip like the one last night with the angry liberal. It was a nine-minute journey I’ll not soon forget.
The episode began on my evening ride home. I walked onto the train at Gallery Place to discover a fellow Ithaca College alumnus standing across from me. We occasionally cross paths on Metro, but haven’t seen each other in a very long time. Normally I try to shift our conversation to sports or our alma mater, but I had no luck yesterday.
The first thing out of his mouth had to do with the potential for a government shutdown. As a federal employee, he remarked, I was going to put him out of work. Apparently as an employee of The Heritage Foundation, I control the actions of Senate Democrats, whose failure to act on last year’s spending bill threatens a shutdown in 10 days.
When I failed to take his bait, he turned nasty. He raised his voice, at one point swearing, which prompted another man nearby to approach, apparently fearing for my safety. My acquaintance, sporting an Ithaca College jacket, joked that he was just venting to a fellow alumnus.
It was absolutely the most bizarre thing I’ve witnessed on Metro — and it was happening to me. I realize this behavior is not uncommon among political adversaries, but usually it’s not displayed so vividly… and so publicly.
By the time our crowded train reached L’Enfant Plaza, I was ready to change cars. That’s when the man shouted to everyone on the train that I work at Heritage, apparently trying to embarrass me. Instead, he provoked a response.
After explaining to him that it was the Democrats’ mess Republicans were left to clean up, I quickly realized he was completely clueless about the current debate on Capitol Hill. He proceeded to complain that Republicans were only cutting discretionary spending and not grappling with the real problem of entitlements. I reminded him that House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget proposal next week would be the first real attempt to do just that.
But he wasn’t interested in an intelligent conversation. Instead, it devolved from there — similar to the recent behavior of liberals on Capitol Hill. When he failed to say anything coherent or civil about the spending debate in Congress, another liberal standing nearby came to his defense.
By the time the train reached Pentagon, everyone around us must have been glad to see him go. He looked at me with a smile, then thanked me for the opportunity to blow off steam.
I suppose we should be accustomed to irrational behavior from the left. We’re seeing a lot of that these days, whether it’s the conniving liberal politicians in Washington or the angry union mobs in Wisconsin. Civility certainly isn’t their strong suit.
Apparently the facts aren’t either.
Robert Bluey directs the Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
