Lots of folks (not so much on LJ) are talking about Cunningham's resignation from the House after pleading guilty to taking more than two million dollars in bribes. And as someone who votes Republican more often than not, maybe I should say something too.
Good.
Good that he was caught. Good that he is going to be punished. Good that he is gone.
I have no patience for bribe-takers in
either party. I want them
all gone, because we can't afford them as a nation, not just because they cause us to make arguably bad decisions -- I
suppose you can bribe someone to do the
right thing, although that probably isn't the normal case -- but because they corrupt the process in a way that increases the cynicism of the public and leads to a failure of support for the democracy that we have.
Now, you may ask yourself, "How can someone like Cunningham think that he'll get away with this?" Part of the answer, I'm sure, is that many people
do get away with it, but I think there's more to it than that.
There are
many people out there in the world -- and
surely you've run into them -- who believe that they are somehow smarter or better than the rest of us and that
because of that they are
entitled to take things that are not theirs to take. I've seen them here at work and I've seen them in fandom too. By God, they
should have these things and no one's going to be really hurt if they take them and if they
should happen to get caught, well, they'll find a way to skate past it, because they've always figured out how to skate past it before.
I do not like these people. (I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise to you.) And I certainly don't want to associate with them.
How about you?
How do you feel about the suggestion that he be courtmartialed? I'd love to see this swaggering bully do some actual time in the stockade with the other criminals.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051129/ap_on_go_co/congressman_bribery_list
• $140,000 to a third party for the "Duke-Stir" yacht, which was moved to his boat slip for his use.
• $13,500 toward the purchase of a Rolls-Royce.
• $9,200 paid to a manufacturer for two Laser Shot shooting simulators.
Do you think that allowing oneself to be bribed by "defense" contractors is not related to one's military service? It seems to me to be a betrayal of every veteran (or CO) who served honorably.
And the idea of entitlement just because you think you're wonderful doesn't sit awfully well, either. I'm very much in favor of levelling the playing field in the name of freedom of opportunity, and there's always more that can be done in that direction -- but you don't decide that you're wonderful and expect everyone to act accordingly.
Because of the lack of opportunity at some levels, I'm also very much in favor of the social safety net -- but with mechanisms to help people get out of it. Some people, because of various circumstances, may never get out of it, no matter how hard they try. The ones who don't want to get out when presented a decent chance to do so (and there's the detail wherein the devil resides, i.e., what constitutes a "decent chance") -- they are a problem.
Everyone wants the government to have one more power, so that they'll get some special benefit. What we're seeing is the sum total of those desires.
See also the discussions on the K Street Project, which is bascially a way to force all lobbying firms to turn into GOP operatives or be cut out of the picture:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=K_Street_Project
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0829/p01s01-uspo.html?usaNav
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101632.html
See the following, originally in the New Republic, and reprinted elsewhere:
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20051003&s=foer100305
and most of with in print, with commentary:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/22/20500/1686
http://www.savethegop.com/archives/2005/09/23/new-republic-swimming-with-the-sharks/
(you should check out that savethegop.com site, especially the about...)
http://annotatedtimes.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/5/0/43335EAB08C03150/
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/benshapiro/2005/03/23/14880.html
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050711/blumenthal
“Duke Cunningham is a hero,” DeLay said during a press briefing Tuesday. “He is an honorable man of high integrity.”
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/061505/delay.html
There's the Taft family of Ohio; Governor Taft, the last of a long line formerly known for their uprightness is now running a 65.5% approval rating, as he is eaten alive by a money and power influence scandal in state government, to which he ended up pleading guilty to a series of misdemeanors. Why the hell is he still in office?
Why are Ernie Fletcher (governor of Kentucky) and Bill Frist still where they are without shame? Because the power and the money trumps shame, trumps the idea of doing the right thing. The right thing isn't something that occurs to these guys in this sort of dog-eat-dog, devil-take-the-hindmost atmosphere. It started with the decaying days of the Dems in Congress, the Daleys and the Tip O'Neills, and the GOP got swallowed by it, absorbed by it. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051129/NEWS09/511290414/-1/NEWS
http://www.mrc.org/bozellcolumns/newscolumn/1999/col19990520.asp
Ambrose Bierce was right about conservatives and liberals.
If people would stop voting for incumbents, then we wouldn't need term limits and we wouldn't have career politicians.