"That's because Congress is gearing up for the most dramatic slate of hearings since the Clinton impeachment fracas."
If it is only that small, then they will have succeeded in limiting its scope. It has been suggested that the Abramoff and Fitzpatrick investigations will likely be curtailed because to take them to their conclusion would upset the political balance. A parallel is drawn with the Abscam investigation, which was curtailed when they realized that maybe 30% of Congress could be vulnerable and that would be unacceptable. Instead, we should engage in a political debate and work things out that way. I feel this argument is wrong, the ones who would be engaging in the debate are the very same ones who need to be held accountable.
There comes a time when the bandages need to be removed and the dead tissue debrided back to whatever healthy tissue is left. Yes, it would be painful and messy, but the patient just can't recover without it. Unlike Abscam, which was just a bunch of greedy pinheads who shouldn't have been elected in the first place, the current situation has arisen by design. DeLay and the others took over K Street and set up their money machine built firmly on the principles of the ends justifying the means. It wasn't enough to rely on the strength of principles or ideas to ensure Republican domination, if such actually exist. They had to cut off the air supply of elections, to divert and control the flow of money that is required for an election campaign. And that invites corruption by design.
Fitzpatrick's investigation involves another aspect that is toxic to our political system, the concept that there are those who aren't bound by laws. This ties into the torture and warrantless wiretapping. It is not so much the laws that have been violated, is it that the perps feel that the laws don't really apply to them.
So the worst thing to do is to limit this out of fear of the repercussions. Don't get me wrong, the repercussions will be severe, but allowing it to continue will be worse. Ignoring it will just ensure that we will no longer be as much of a democracy as we are now. And we have a inflection point, it is still possible to change things. The system won't be as vulnerable for much longer. |
