Congress has just been elected and the DCCC is already nominating a new Republican Congressman as “Hypocrite of the Week” for a couple of reasons.

The newly-elected Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois is apparently upset at his government, which is understandable given the current economy and the distrust of the government that many Americans feel. Representative Joe Walsh’s reasoning is a little suspect—he claims that the government takes "care of too many in the middle class."

I don’t know the demographics of the district that Representative Walsh represents or which constituents voted him into office, but I imagine that a fair number of them were members of the middle class. (gauging by the fact that a majority of Americans probably self-identify themselves as members of the middle class.) 

That statement is just bizarre- I don’t know any politicians (with the possible exceptions of the dynamic duo Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin) who would be stupid enough to criticize the government for taking care of the people in the country.

Before you judge him too easily or make the mistake of thinking that his statement was just a slip of the tongue on a bad day, consider the fact that his new chief-of-staff is a former lobbyist. As everyone is well aware of, lobbyists are paid consultants to represent corporations and special interests. Judging by Representative Walsh’s  statement about the middle class, I’m guessing that this particular ex-lobbyist did not represent the special interests that would really help the people.

If you still remain unconvinced that Representative Walsh deserves to be called “Hypocrite of the Week” (and other worse things that I won’t write but will think about), think about the fact that (and this is where the word “hypocrisy” comes into play) he ran a populist campaign.

A populist campaign, from what I understand, means a campaign based on values and policies that represent the interests of the people, not the interests of big business and Wall Street. Big business and Wall Street may have contributed big money to his campaign, but only constituents can actually vote in the elections.

It’s amazing that he has sold his voters out before even taking his first in congress. (I don’t know how to check the statistics on this, but this has to be some kind of world record.) I hope that the Democrats continue to loudly call out the hypocrites in congress so that they aren’t re-elected next time.