Motion on the Floor

Thursday, I headed towards DC at the unholy hours of 6am, so that I could make it to the Capitol South metro station by 7, at which time I met up with other NRLC interns, a few staff, and the students at the NRLC academy. One of their fathers just so happened to work in Congress, and just so happened to be Representative Chris Smith.

I had prepared myself for another talk from a politician who was politicking... But we started out following him through a side door into the Capitol and onto the floor of the House of Representatives! If you've been following this blog at all, you know that when it comes to politics, I put up a cynical and thoroughly un-impressible front. Well, standing on the floor of the House, where generally only Congresspeople and pages stand, sitting in a House chair, where generally only Congresspeople sit, watching the voting wall light up as they tested it, I dropped this... I was impressed, and I know my face lit up like the voting wall.

Congressman Smith talked to us for a while, about being in Congress, the House, and other such minutia, until he sidetracked himself sharing about his own work as a public leader. He stressed human rights again and again, sharing how the two parties worked with or against him and the leverage Congresspeople have against each other. I realized that I know very little about Congressional Committees and I need to remedy this; he made their importance quite clear, something I had known, but never really hit me until that morning.

After we listened and asked questions for a while, we had a few moments to wander in awe before a group of 400 displaced us. We proceeded to the Raybourn building where donuts and coffee awaited us in the Congressman's office. We socialized with each other and spoke with Congressman Smith again. He emphasized human rights and his duty to his God and his family... and everything just seemed so consistent that I couldn't help but admire him. It also gave me hope for my friends who dream of becoming politicians: there may be hope to be a good Christian and a politician. Of course, all I know about Congressman Smith is what I heard from him, but still. It was different than what I've heard from other Congresspeople.

The only negative bit I have to say about Congressman Smith is that according to Wikipedia, he refused to appear on Stephen Colbert. Silly Congressman.