Schumer chooses decline for Senate decorum
Washington Examiner
Video Embed
As if Democrats still needed to prove that they are obsessed with lowering or eliminating all standards, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) just scrapped the Senate dress code. There is no good reason to kill the dress code, and he should reinstate it.
Until last weekend, men were required to wear a jacket and tie on the Senate floor. The Senate likes to think of itself as the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” with just 100 men and women working there for the 335 million people who inhabit the greatest nation on Earth. They handle tremendous democratic responsibilities. Surely it is not too much to ask that they reflect the gravity of the office granted to them by dressing with dignity. Respect, indeed a degree of reverence, is due for the site and the institution. Too many of our fellow countrymen dress as children — in shorts and T-shirts — and it is reasonable to ask that senators not be among them.
CHUCK SCHUMER DITCHES ENFORCEMENT OF DRESS CODE ON SENATE FLOOR
But this is the Age of Schumer. It was he who stood on the steps of the Supreme Court, threatening justices with a “whirlwind” if they restricted abortion, saying, “You won’t know what hit you.” It’s the same Schumer who defended fellow Democrats who despicably and dishonestly portrayed Justice Samuel Alito (when he was a nominee) as a racist. He is the same Schumer who endorsed mobs using the “heckler’s veto” to shut down proceedings in the Tennessee legislature. Decorum means nothing to this senator.
A dress code is perhaps a lesser matter than those breached in the odious examples above of Schumer’s modus operandi. But if it is less deeply unpleasant, it is more broadly significant. Physical appearance can alter attitudes and behaviors in workplaces, in cancer treatment, even in sports. A breakdown in physical standards often leads to a breakdown in ethical standards. (The scrapping of the Senate’s dress code is thus probably both a symptom of the Senate’s decline and a probable cause of further decline.)
Applied to crime fighting, the theory of “broken windows” policing, which held that it was important to combat even the “small stuff” such as vandalism and graffiti, turned New York City in the 1990s from a crime-ridden horror to one of the safest big cities in the world.
Yet Schumer eliminates with a wave of his hand the civilizing traditions of 200 years. The rule requiring a jacket and tie was unwritten because abiding by a code without formal compulsion signifies mutual respect.
The obvious reason it is now being killed is to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), the handicapped stroke victim who wears a hoodie and shorts for preference and claims he finds semiformal wear somehow triggering. The truth, however, is that Fetterman’s garb is a political shtick. A child of wealth and privilege, he adopted his slovenly dress to portray himself as an “everyman” when running for mayor of the tiny town of Braddock. His slovenliness long preceded his stroke. The latter is not a good excuse for the former, and there is no known physical reason he can’t dress appropriately. Indeed, just last weekend, he drove 290 miles to Michigan to express solidarity with striking auto workers.
If Fetterman can drive for five hours, he can manage a necktie, just as truly physically handicapped Sens. Bob Dole and John McCain did for years despite experiencing significant pain just in the daily process of donning their business suits. It is, of course, actually more difficult to pull on a sweatshirt than it is to button up a dress shirt.
If Schumer wants to allow for disability, the answer isn’t to throw out the entire dress code. The simple answer would be to declare an exception if a doctor says it is necessary for a medical reason.
Otherwise, the rule should stand. Our politics already resemble a brawl. If senators dress down, they will feel more free, lamentably, to act accordingly.