Who or what has been most victimized by all this corruption? The answer to that question can be seen in several paragraphs of the USA Today story on the case:
The developments appear to be damaging Americans' perception of their elected representatives.From the vantage point of politics as usual, Republicans are likelier to be hurt by these scandals than Democrats. Abramoff is a Republican, with tight connections to the Republican leadership. But he also apparently bribed Democrats and, when one considers it, engaged in bribing schemes which seem to have incited Republicans to vote against such conventionally Republican principles as limited government and fiscal responsibility.
A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Dec. 16-18 found that 49% of American adults say they believe "most members of Congress are corrupt." That's 1 percentage point below the level of 1994, when voters turned control of Congress over to Republicans. The GOP appears to be tarred by scandal slightly more than the Democrats; 47% said "almost all" or "many" Republicans are corrupt, compared with 44% for Democrats.
Among registered voters, 55% said the issue of corruption will be the "most important" or a "very important" factor in their decision on whom to vote for next year. The poll has a margin of error of +/—3 to 5 percentage points, depending on the question.
Be that as it may, who really cares which political party is hurt most by this stunning and widespread corruption of our political system? Far more important than damage control or spinmeistering at this point is the restoration of trust in Congress and our political system.
Americans have long been skeptical of the integrity and veracity of their public officials. But reports on alleged and actual official corruption of the most blatant and disgusting dimensions had, even before Tuesday's developments in the Abramoff case, already produced an assumption on the part of about half of the public: If you hold political office, you're corrupt.
It's not true, of course. But it's a shame that enough corruption does exist that increasing numbers of Americans hold their own government in contempt.
The Justice Department is to be applauded for pursuing this case. It should be allowed to pursue this scandal wherever--and to whomever--it may lead, no matter which party is implicated.
The biggest victim of the corruption that Mr. Abramoff and his Congressional co-conspirators engaged in and enabled is our democracy!
In the end, for democracy to work, there must be a basic trust that even if government sometimes does things with which we disagree, its decisions aren't the result of lobbyists greasing the palms of legislators or other officials.
Every government official who took a bribe needs to do time.
And every person who gave a bribe or bilked a client should not only do time, but pay back every single penny.
The goal of the Justice Department and of the Congress needs to be restoring the trust of the American people in their elected officials and ultimately, in their democracy.
And for goodness' sake, Congress: Pass legislation now making it illegal for anyone who has ever served in the government to act as a lobbyist for life!
2 comments:
Mark - good post. Right on track, as usual.
Of course, corruption scandals are nothing new to American government. But there's this: the larger and more powerful the federal government becomes, the more offensive and dangerous corruption is to the republic.
I think the Republicans are going to suffer in the mid-term elections. More and more people are becoming sick of business as usual, and the party in power will pay.
The Republicans are helped by steady progress in Iraq, a solid economy, confidence on security issues, and the Democrats' lack of a message (no Contract with America there). The Democrats benefit from increasing impatience with Iraq, scandals, and disenchantment with the Republicans.
Jeff:
The polls seem to so far indicate that Americans are equally dismissive of both parties. But as the party in power when the Abramoff stuff happened, not to mention our being in the sixth year of a GOP administration, bringing with it an inevitable deterioration in electoral enthusiasm, the Republicans face tough prospects in the fall.
But another factor that might blunt the effects of Abramoff and the usual impact of a second-term president on his party's performance in midterm elections this year: The fact that thus far, there seems to be no emerging consensus among Democrats behind an alternative vision for the country. This is worrisome because, irrespective of one's politics, it's not healthy to have anything like one-party government. For the best policies and the best leaders to emerge, there needs to be a robust two-party system, I believe.
The historical analogy most comparable to today's Democrats, it seems to me, are the Whig during the Polk Administration. Try as they might, the Whig Party could not generate a consensus vision. Their nomination of Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican War running on a nebulous and ill-defined platform, couldn't stem their descent into disintegration despite his election.
I'm not predicting the demise of the Democrats. The eulogizing delivered for the Republicans after the 1964 presidential debacle, for example, should caution everybody against similar statements about the Democrats. But they are a party in search of their core identity right now.
I personally believe that Dems will be served well if they go with a moderate liberal who is comfortable with her or his faith.
Historically, Democrats have been comfortable with faith, values, and policies rooted in morality. These things informed their concern for the poor, for equal rights for women and blacks, and historically, opposition to abortion, for example. Democratic pols like Franklin Roosevelt, Robert Kennedy, Edmund Muskie, George McGovern, and Jimmy Carter were comfortable with the overt expression of religious faith without imposing their beliefs on anyone. Somehow, Democratic leaders have allowed themselves to become tongue-tied when it comes to faith and values, much to their detriment. But of course, for Dems to reconnect to this strain in the American psyche, it must be much more than window-dressing. A guy like Mark Warner could make this connection credibly for them.
I'll be watching events unfold with great interest this year.
Thanks for dropping by the blog and for your interesting comments, Jeff.
Mark
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