Tuesday’s Reality Check
Who’s Aping Who in Washington?
Mark Twain once said, “Congress may be America’s only distinct criminal class” and that still holds true. Consider these findings from Capitol Hill Blue about members of the United States Congress a couple of years ago. A cursory search found among sitting members of congress:
• 29 accused of spousal abuse.
• 7 arrested for fraud.
• 19 accused of writing bad checks.
• 117 bankrupted at least two businesses.
• 3 arrested for assault.
• 71 with credit reports so bad they can’t qualify for a credit card.
• 14 arrested on drug-related charges.
• 8 arrested for shoplifting.
• 21 defendants in lawsuits.
• 84 stopped for drunk driving, but released after claiming Congressional immunity.
So the question rises, if Congress as a body continues to have abysmal approval ratings why do voters keep reelecting their own Congressman term after term? Why do we rail about corruption in Washington but then turn around and reelect serial law breakers? I think in some ways because at our collective core we have been corrupted along with them.
This was illustrated to years ago when the late Jamie Whitten of north Mississippi was running to keep his seat in Congress after over 50 years in Washington. He served in about as conservative a corner of a conservative state as one could hold office in. So sure was he of the vote of yellow dog Democrats that he didn’t even bother to campaign any more. Though his constituents gave lip service to conservative stands on social issues and offered loud amens when their pastors preached against such things, come election down he could count on the vast majority of them to ignore their conscience and cast their vote for him.
“Why do you keep on voting for him?” I asked a man I knew was not pleased with the Democrat’s stance on things like abortion and other social issues. The old farmer thought a moment and replied without blinking, “Because we would lose our dairy subsides without him.”
So I ask you, what bothers you more – A spoiled rich girl like Lindsay Lohan getting herself in trouble or someone who knows better but places his own profit above the greater good? As much as it feels good for a moment to rail against the “bums in Washington” maybe it’s time to look at the resident bum in our own soul.
They say “monkey see, monkey do” but perhaps we don’t realize they are aping us as much as we are them.
