Friday, January 09, 2009

Why the Democratic Scandals Don't Matter (Yet) - The Plank

Eve Fairbanks talks about Democratic scandals and posits a reason why they aren't bad, yet.

Does being in power lead to corruption? No, it is a matter of the individual, opportunity and the belief that they won't be caught that leads to corruption.

Corruption in government is wrong, obviously, no matter who is doing it. If Michelle Malkin and other conservative commentators take glee in Democratic corruption, that too is fine. If liberal commentators like Fairbanks take glee in Republican corruption, that too is fine. But both sides need to realize that it is not a matter of which party is more corrupt that the other, but rather it is a problem that they are corrupt at all.

I don't expect perfection in my elected leaders, they are human after all. But ethics rules should be clear, they should be black and white. However, each side of the political spectrum has to take responsiblity for policing itself, just as much as they police the other side. As for Fairbanks' comments, it shouldn't matter that they are most local, or mostly unrelated, or mostly anything. It is corruption, its should be vigorously investigated and it should be castigated just as vigorously from both sides of the aisle.

If it is wrong for a Republican to do it, it is wrong for a Democrat to do it. It is hypocrisy in the extreme to believe that your political affiliations determines who gets lambasted first.

It is no wonder we have little faith in our elected officials because reporters and commentators take umbrage when you attack their own, but attack their opponents with gusto of a child opening presents on Christmas morning.

So do these Democratic scandals matter? Yes. They matter now, it is not a function of whether they matter "yet" or not, but of whether they did wrong or not. It always matters, it is out government after all and we deserve one we can believe in.

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