The “Corner Boys”

When I was growing up we had two very distinct groups of kids in our neighborhood. Of course we had the boys and the girls, but those are not the two groups to which I am referring. Back in those days there was a group of boys that mainly hung out at the corner in front of the drug store. We referred to them as the “corner boys.”  There was a smaller group of girls that also congregated at the corner.  . . . mainly to be noticed by the “corner-boys.” It was not where they hung that distinguished this group, but rather it was their behavior in certain situations that identified them as a group. They were proud of their non-conforming, anti-good etiquette behavior. In general they were coarse and crude, especially with regard to denigrating comments that they would make to an innocent passerby. It didn’t matter to them if there were women or children in the area, as the only important thing to them was for their cronies to be impressed by their complete lack of etiquette.

They also thought that mischievous behavior in the surrounding neighborhood was  not only okay, but to be emulated. Knocking over trash cans in the alleys – condoned and encouraged! Trampling on flower beds in people’s front yards – condoned  and encouraged! Taking the daily newspaper from someone’s porch – condoned and encouraged! Putting a candy bar or a pack of gum under one’s shirt and walking out of the store without paying – condoned and encouraged!
Over the course of many years I have occasionally wondered what happened to this unruly group of boys and girls. Well this past week the lightbulb went on . . . it occurred to me that a lot of them are in Washington D.C., in Congress, proud to be Democrats!
Why would I say such a thing?
Two recent things:
First is the behavior of Senate Democrats at the hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh. They went out of their way to be coarse, and insulting to Judge Kavanaugh, even in the presence of his wife, his children and other young girls in the audience, sitting right behind him. Senator Kamala Harris (D, Ca.) appeared that she was trying to be a poster child for “Rudeness 101!” Senator Cory Booker (D, N.J.) wanted a “Spartacus moment” for himself as he implied that if he had to break the rules, he would. His fellow “corner boys” cheered him on! This coarse and crude behavior was not limited to these two, as Sen. Durbin (D, Il), Sen. Whitehouse (D, R.I.),and Sen. Coons (D, Del.) tried their best to be number one on the “obnoxious Top 40 list” – condoned and encouraged!
Second, in The House of Representatives, Democrats objected to a bill that defined “crimes of violence” for which non-citizens would be mandatorily deported. These crimes of violence included: murder, assault, child abuse,kidnapping, arson, etc. Just like the corner boys, they would not go on record to discourage aberrant and unlawful behavior. You could almost hear them whisper, “if the accused is one of our corner boy compañeros, do not say or do anything against him/her.” Only those from “the corner” could be for someone who has committed a violent crime. This bill eventually passed 247-152 with the vote largely along party lines with only a few Democrats crossing over.
My guess is that we haven’t the last of this type of boorish behavior, as in the Senate,  and we haven’t seen the last of total disregard for standards of moral conduct as in the House, as it appears that the Democrat’s “corner boys” approve!

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