Remember college football bowl games before all the corporate sponsors added their names? What’s next the Crest Toothpaste Sugar Bowl?
At least corporate sponsors pay for the privilege. It can get worse. In fact, it has. Now Congress is talking about doing this with entire government agencies except the career politicians are putting their own names on government departments.
That’s Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii’s brilliant idea after 40 years in Congress. He proposes renaming The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the “Thomas R. Harkin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Harkin is a senator from Iowa.
The plan changes the National Library of Medicine to the “Arlen Spector National Library of Medicine.” Senator Spector is a 20-year incumbent from Pennsylvania.
To lengthen the names of government agencies is bad enough. But to name them after congressmen who presently sit deciding their budget that’s outrageous. Corporations pay big money to put their name on things. Whose money goes to get a congressman’s name on a federal agency? You know whose.
And these politicians are still perfectly able to do something rotten. Think how embarrassing it would have been had we named the U.S. Postal Service after Congressman Dan Rostenkowski who was later convicted of embezzling postage stamps.
What foolish pride in Washington! It makes me want to say, “Hey congressman, you’re name here!” Oh, it’s radio. I guess you couldn’t see that.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.