November 23, 2004
PARTY, NOT PRINCIPLE
The message it sends is this: Party, not principle. And that is a terrible message, because when parties sacrifice principle for power, they begin to eat away at their own legitimacy.
~ John Podhoretz, Conservative Political Columnist
When an ethics rule poses a problem for politicians, what do they do? Republicans in the United States House of Representativesófresh off of an election in which their party sold itself to the electorate as a guardian of moral clarity and high principleóhave delivered the ideal solution:
Get Rid Of The Rule!
Faced with the possibility that a grand jury might indict one of their own for alleged campaign-finance abuses, House Republicans recently voted to repeal a rule barring any member of the United States Congress from holding a leadership position while under indictment. The rule change was designed to protect the Republicanís majority leader, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, who was cited three times this year by the House Ethics Committee for assorted violations.
In a show of moral superiority, Republicans established the ethics rule in 1993 when Democrats were tainted by high-profile scandals. Now that one of their own is threatened, the GOP has suddenly deemed its own rule disposable; and their rhetoric to justify it... well, it seems awful Clinton-like. Now it's Tom DeLay who laments "Öthe politics of personal destruction, with me as a target."
Once again, our political leaders are oblivious to the message they send with their actions. Where once the Republicans stood for a principle when they adopted the ethics rule in 1993, today they stand only for themselves. What a joke!
Posted by Mikal at November 23, 2004 6:36 AM
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Sadly, I agree. What your answer Mikal? I am one little human in a great BIG country. My option was to vote and then after that write the people in elected office with my thoughts. If everyone did those 2 things change might occur in this country.
Just like when the Democrats had control of Congress and the Presidency, the Republicans are now getting arrogant and cocky.
Itís like when the Democrats controlled the Senate, the Democrats wanted to change the rules on filibustering because the Republicans were using it all the time. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the Republicans want to change it now. I want it to stay the same, so that no one party can dominate the other.
I like it when one party has the White House and the other party have a simple majority of Congress. Then, just maybe the art of compromise might come back into style again.
