I like to consider myself a cynical idealist. Yes, that's a bit of semantic trickery and even I'm not sure exactly what it means. But I tend to find myself hoping some politician out there will champion ideals and then telling myself "I told you so" when all I find are corrupt congressmen. Recently these corruption scandals have had a Republican tint. We all know about (though after the corruption has brought results) Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, and Jack Abramoff. The Republicans are also in power, so an outside corruptor (like Abramoff) would, no doubt, focus on GOP members to get results.
Unfortunately, the Democrats aren't so clean either. As some of you may know, Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was found to be hiding a $90,000 bribe in his freezer. The bribe was to grease contracts from African nations. And as this WaPost article shows, this Jefferson is quite the character. He setup a web of companies under the names of his family members in order to launder his bribes around and partake in the lucrative deals he help setup.
But his unethical ways go farther back in time. A graduate of Harvard Law School he had to settle out of court for failing to pay the mortgages on his dilapidated rental properties. And he's more than a slum lord. One of his early business ventures was renting expensive appliances to the working poor.
As much as I want to believe in our politicians, there's too much evidence that some (perhaps many) are not working for the betterment of the people but for bribes and easy money. Just spend an hour or two browsing www.opensecrets.com and see where the money comes from and to who it goes to.
While reading the WaPost article I jokingly remarked to myself, "at least we're not as corrupt as Nigeria" were Jefferson bribed the Vice President with $500,000 for windfall, guaranteed contracts. But then I realized we have a Vice President who allowed the Energy industry to basically write energy policy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Politics is a dirty business. And corruption is in every area of the world. Canada's liberal party just recently got busted for the Sponsorship scandal, and thanks to that, we have the stupid conservatives in power. Bibles and death penalties for everyone. Abortions and same-sex marriages are being worked out the door. Ugh.
Living up here, I'm not totally up to date on American politics, but I do watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report every evening, so I have been kept up to date on the people you mentioned in your post. My favourite was when Duke Cunningham cried at his press conference.
The Daily Show and the Colbert Report might be the greatest thing since pumpkin pie.
But there's nothing greater than pumpkin pie and ice cream.
That's why I try and be as uninvolved in politics as possible.
Who said an ostrich with it's head in the ground is wrong?!
Post a Comment