Groundhog Day in Washington
By Jan Larson (10/09/06)
Mark Foley, Cynthia McKinney, Patrick Kennedy, Tom Delay, William Jefferson. The list goes on. Another day in Washington – another member of Congress in trouble.
Is this simply because in any group of 535 people there will be some that are stupid, criminal or perverts or is there something unique about being in Washington that makes people become stupid, criminal or perverts?
In theory, one doesn’t decide to run for office and get the backing of one’s party and enough financial supporters to win an election by being dumb so the people who end up in the Congress should be smarter than average. It would follow that smart people wouldn’t do as many dumb things as dumb people yet was we’ve seen, stupidity is not a rare thing on Capitol Hill. There must be something about being in Washington that turns theoretically smart people into dumb people.
Just because a person might be smart enough to get elected, it doesn’t mean that they are smart enough to know how to handle the myriad of people that attempt to influence them on a daily basis or to remain (or become) grounded instead of becoming drunk with power. Those that succumb are obviously weak of character.
There are plenty of weak characters in Washington and it seems that the longer they remain, the weaker they become. This is, of course, the result of becoming embedded in the politics of Washington where loyalty to one’s party and the relentless effort to get reelected take precedence over everything else.
Politics in Washington is all about power – obtaining it and retaining it.
The latest to meet his D. C. demise, Mark Foley, thought that he had the power to do as he pleased with congressional pages. That was dumb. Sooner or later, this kind of thing always becomes public.
As Dick Morris suggested on The O’Reilly Factor (October 6), the Foley scandal isn’t really about Republicans or Democrats, it’s more about Congress as a whole. The public’s approval rating of Congress is in the high 20s, yet we continue to elect the same people over and over again.
We have a destructive, self-perpetuating cycle whereby members of Congress get elected and then spend most of their time and energy to ensure that they get reelected. With each passing year, they become more and more removed from doing the people’s work and instead, become infatuated with their growing power. Eventually, some abuse that power and are forced to leave in disgrace.
The 109th Congress has not addressed many of the most pressing issues facing America today. Many voters are not happy with Congress as a whole and the Foley scandal has reinforced the idea that we should throw them all out. Unfortunately, it matters not whether Democrats or Republicans in the majority, there will always some bad apples in the barrel.
There are two ways to change the cycle of power and corruption in Washington – term limits and the Fair Tax. Term limits would change the “reelection first” mindset for many members of Congress and would greatly weaken the seniority-driven power structure. The Fair Tax would eliminate many of the external influences on members by removing manipulation of the tax code from the congressional agenda.
Unfortunately, since both term limits and the Fair Tax would serve to reduce the power of Congress (and individual members of Congress), it is clearly an uphill battle to get such measures passed. It is up to the public to demand change in Washington. If the pervasive “culture of corruption” in Washington, epitomized by Foley, Jefferson, et al, isn’t changed, tomorrow will be just like today and the next day and the next day…
Copyright ©2006 Jan A. Larson All rights reserved.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Jan Larson
