Is the ethical politician an endangered species? Given today’s headlines, they appear to be almost extinct. I take no pleasure in writing this. Simply because we’d, at least I’d, like to believe that our elected representatives have the country’s best interest constantly at the forefront of their deliberations. But are they really that ethical? Let’s first define what I mean by ethics and although more goes into it, for now, let’s keep it simple. Ethics: an obligation one assumes to standards of right and wrong and then develops character traits to meet those standards. Sometimes we do and sometimes we falter. But we always strive to return to what’s right. Mostly.
So let’s for a moment turn to Congress and congressional ethics. The Senate and House have ethics committees. There is a Congressional Code of Official Conduct. The House version has over 2,800 words. The Ten Commandments in contrast, depending on the biblical version you use, has 63. Seems the Congress has too many lawyers and too few prophets. So what do these committees do? Well, since 1997, they paid $18.2 million to settle 291 cases of workplace disputes for Congress, the Capitol Police, the Architect of the Capitol, and the Library of Congress. Some refer to the payouts as the #MeToo Slush Fund. It’s about $62,000 per settlement and doesn’t include settlements paid from a Congressman’s own congressional office budget. The interesting thing to note is that any money left unspent does not return to the Treasury. And in keeping with “confidentiality,” the taxpayer has no access to what this money is used for. A protection racket alive and well and we pay for it.
There are politicians that I’m sure are upstanding citizens of the country. Working to keep America at the forefront of Western civilization’s leadership, and I applaud them. But then we have some whose egos exceed their grasp. And this gets in the way of doing what’s right. That’s when people use their position to target others—often maliciously. Examples? Senator Joe Biden attacking Robert Bork, Ted Sorenson. Adam Schiff knowingly lying to the American people about Russian” collusion,” the Biden laptop. Nancy Pelosi ramming through legislation with no prior reading nor debate. Lindsey Graham apparently all in for the start of WWIII by proselytizing that we directly confront Russia over the Ukraine. Women speaking out about workplace and sexual harassment—John Conyers, etc, et al. So from the personal to the universal, ethics is put aside and doing what’s right is sacrificed on the altars of Politics and Ego.
Trust, once lost, is hard to regain. When people begin to feel that their elected leaders are lying to them, making decisions not in the best interests of their families or the country, can you blame them from turning to Twitter? I continue to be optimistic that there is more good than bad in the political realm. I hope I’m right but sometimes it certainly doesn’t feel that way.
I’ll leave you with a JFK quote, “Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be President but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.”
END NOTE. On January 23rd, an Amendment was proposed to limit members of the House to three terms, and members of the Senate two. But even if passed (big if) it would still need three-quarters of the States to ratify. But while they’re at it, they may consider rescinding the 17th Amendment and returning a voice to the States. But it’s been tried before and failed. But we can always cross our fingers.
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You could compare our government, and especially Congress, to Babylon, and not be far off.