The Political Climate That Is Destroying Our Nation

While checking my e-mail this week, I noticed the story of the sentencing of Rod Blagojevich. I was reminded of the disgrace Rod Blagojevich brought to Illinois for his attempt to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat. Blagojevich was found guilty on 18 charges of corruption and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. The amazing thing is that corruption seems to be the norm for Illinois Governors. In fact four out of the past nine governors in Illinois have gone to prison. Two others were charged with crimes and subsequently acquitted. That’s not to say that those Governors were not guilty of the crimes charged, but only that there was insufficient evidence to convict them.

The really sad thing is that corruption is not unique to Illinois, and it is not unique to one political party. Connecticut’s John G. Rowland resigned in 2004 and served 10 months in prison for accepting gifts from state contractors and lying about it. That same year, James McGreevey resigned as New Jersey’s governor after admitting to an affair with another man he had hired for a state post. Blagojevich’s predecessor, George Ryan, was convicted in 2006 of steering contracts to friends. New York’s Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008 after confessing to patronizing prostitutes. In 2010, South Carolina’s Mark Sanford acknowledged an affair with a woman in Argentina, maintained through misuse of state money. Then there was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s adulterous affair with his housekeeper of many years that resulted in a child the same age as one of Arnold’s children by another mother. More recently former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was subpoenaed by Congress to testify about his “management” of MF Global, the financial firm that collapsed this fall with $1.2 billion of its clients money gone missing, that he “just doesn’t know where it is.” Then there was the indelible impression of Anthony Weiner’s photograph,

or that of Christopher Lee.

Many of us hoped that Sarah Palin’s ignorance and corruption was an isolated event.  However the Republican Party has shown that to be a false assumption.  With the recent rise and fall of GOP candidates campaigning for the Presidency, the shock and awe has increased exponentially. No longer is there simply corruption to consider, but the level of ignorance of these candidates running for the highest office in the United States is astonishing. First there was Michele Bachmann who bought her way to the top in the Iowa straw poll. Of the many stupid things she has said and done, Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC provided a great summary:

Then there was the rise and fall of Rick Perry. He is both corrupt and ignorant.  However the “oops” moment will be remembered for generations to come.

Who could forget Herman Cain’s ignorance of the most basic foreign policy question on Libya?

Cain probably couldn’t be considered “corrupt” as he isn’t a politician. However he is unquestionably morally corrupt.

Now Newt Gingrich is ahead in the polls. He has been found to be corrupt by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.  His three wives would be the most knowledgeable sources for documentation of his moral corruption. 

Is this the best we can do? Are these the best candidates we can find to hold positions of leadership and guidance for our country? Are political candidates only charged with proving that they are not witches?

In 2008 when we elected Barack Obama as our president, Americans elected a president who would fight “for the people.”

Many would criticize Barack Obama for his economic policies. I don’t pretend to know if another leader could have done better digging us out of this economic disaster that Obama inherited. I am confident that John McCain and Sarah Palin would have caused a permanent and disastrous decline of the American economy. Whatever Obama has done during the last three years, we have always known he was acting “for the people.” There has been no suggestion of self-interest, political corruption, or moral corruption. Abraham Lincoln said in his infamous Gettysburg address:

“…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

When Mayor Bloomberg announced his resignation from the Republican Party, he said:

“We have presidential candidates who don’t believe in science,” …

“I mean, just think about it, can you imagine a company of any size in the world where the CEO said ‘oh I don’t believe in science’ and that person surviving to the end of that day? Are you kidding me? It’s mind-boggling!”

Newt Gingrich currently trails Obama in national polls by 5%. Newt proudly declares that he is “more conservative” than Romney.  If “more conservative” means more corrupt, then I would agree. What is undisputed is that Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich are each “for themselves” and not “for the people.” Both George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan dramatically increased the national debt during their two terms, and both lowered taxes. While they may have contributed to the economic disaster facing the country today, we re-elected them as they were perceived to be “for the people.” Let us hope that in 2012 we have the “common sense” to re-elect the candidate that we perceive to be “for the people”