The Politics of Barbeque

Congressman Louie Gohmert from Tyler, who allegedly cooks the finest ribs inside the Beltway, is up in arms because he has been banned from barbequeing on his balcony at the US Capitol. While I avoid the topic of politics on this Texas arts and culture blog, I was drawn to this story like an armadillo to the highway.

While I can certainly understand the representative wanting to retain the right to sovereignty in his culinary affairs, and could even understand why he might wave a "Barbeque Free of Die" flag from his balcony in not-so-quiet protest, I also believe that there is more to the story than what is being reported. The Architect of the Capitol cited a "safety concern," but I think the real issue is the offices downwind.

If Representative Gohmert smokes his ribs, every balcony downwind would be enveloped in a relentless cloud of smoke redolent of burning mesquite and cooked porcine flesh. Even for those of us who are great admirers of the barbeque arts, it would not exactly be desirable for our offices to be consumed in smoke and our suits smelling like a roadside meat shack.

On a macrocosmic scale, the case is the equivalent of corporations being allowed to pollute our air and water in the name of laissez faire economics, regardless of what happens to the people around them. Luckily, I am not the one who must resolve this issue. I will defer to the wisdom of the US House of Representatives and their Speaker of the House to resolve this "governmental-oversight" dispute.

Here is a link to a Houston Chronicle article on the Congressman's beef. The headline is priceless.

http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Congressman-Louie-Gohmert-stands-up-for-barbeque-10688259.php