WASHINGTON-If there is one thing Congress has historically lacked, it is consistency. That is, except in one category: stupidity.
While we can't know quite yet whether the current batch of lawmakers will live up to their branch's reputation for chaos, the opening week of the new legislative session provided little evidence that they won't. That's especially true of those in the House.
In fact, the representatives' first-day assault on good sense once again affirmed the sagacity of the late Louisiana Gov. Earl Long, who said ethics play a major role in politics-except when they don't, which is often.
The foolish act ended with the Republican House majority being chastised by the amateur television personality about to enter the White House. The rowdy GOP caucus's decision to abolish the independent watchdog office of congressional ethics was chided by nearly every thinking, honest person in America-and Donald Trump-forcing the group to quickly reverse its remarkable misstep.
What the House GOP caucus didn't do, of course, is pay any attention to its own leadership, including Speaker Paul Ryan, who had tried to explain that it wasn't a good idea to even appear to open the door to integral disregard and major scandal as the first gambit in a new chapter of the perpetual chess game of democratic governance.
Does the episode leave any hope that this unruly crowd can be reasonably disciplined in the coming months in dealing with a highly controversial Trump agenda? Will the president-elect, who used a Twitter scolding to prompt the House's about face, always be successful in tweeting his own troops into submission? Stay tuned.
Meantime, the majority's unshakeable intention to obliterate the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, appears totally intact. A concrete replacement for the legislation, which would go a long way toward reassuring millions who need their health coverage, however, seems far from established.
Ryan said a plan's coming, but it's more than fair to wonder how long developing it will take.
A solution seems illusive, and there's general agreement-even among the most vehement ACA opponents-that items from the act like providing treatment for pre-existing conditions and allowing offspring to remain on their parents' policies until they are 26 years old should be retained.
Not to cry over spilled milk, but it does seem worth mentioning that the Republicans might have done us all a better service had they participated in shaping the act instead of leaving it for political purposes entirely up to the Democrats.
But I digress.
The Republicans certainly got their way in our most recent election, which left us with the impression the masses had spoken, even if Hillary Clinton was the choice of 3 million more voters than Trump but lost their nationwide contest thanks to the Electoral College, a stupid institution to maintain in this day and age.
It will be interesting and probably quite painful to follow the machinations of a majority party still divided over some tough issues, including the worth of our intelligence operations and whether it was given an electoral leg up by outside forces like Russia and an arrogant FBI director.
Trump doesn't quite believe that his pal, Russia's Vladimir Putin, would do a thing like interfere with an election. Really? Once again, the word "stupid" comes to mind.
And now we're learning that the GOP is split on whether Julian Assange, the master leaker of classified information, is a hero. Those in favor of honoring him cite the good he has done by leaking information about the hated Democrats. Meanwhile, those who regard him as a traitor and thief of government information still takes pains to condemn Hillary Clinton for not adequately protecting sensitive emails while secretary of state. That's stupid too.
But what's really stupid is not taking into consideration how they will feel when it happens to them; and it will. I never believed in the adage that we have the best Congress money can buy. I think we pay too much.