Politics Might Be at A New Low I have to wonder how many people are as sick of politics and politicians as I am? I am talking not about a particular party, but all politicians. It seems to many people who have reached old age politicians are worse now than they ever were, but I have to ask the question is this true or do we just have better communication and because of it we hear a lot more of what they are doing? With all the sexual harassment charges going around the politicians in Washington who haven’t been singled out yet for this are probably shaking in their boots. What people don’t realize is this is business as usual there. Most of the politicians in Washington believe they are above the law and to prove this they have even passed exemptions to laws for themselves, the same laws we could be put into jail for violating. Just to mention a few which I have spoken about in the past they exempted themselves from insider trading on the stock market and civil rights violations. When we hear senators and congressmen who have been caught red handed in some crime making statements they want the ethics committee to look into their case, they do this because they know the worst thing which can happen is just a censure and there are no actual consequences. These people think by doing this it makes them look as if they are sorry for their deeds and willing to take their punishment, but there is no real punishment to be had and yet you will hear other politicians saying let the ethics committee deal with them and they will get what they deserve. NO they won’t! It seems everything done in Washington and to a lesser extent in local politics is done to advance either a politician’s power or wealth and mostly has nothing to do with helping the people who put that person in their position by electing them. In the House of Representatives, it takes a two thirds vote to expel a member. Not counting those expelled for siding with the South in the Civil War, only two have been expelled. These two were Michael J. Myers who was convicted of bribery in the Abscam scandal and James Traficanti who was convicted of ten counts including bribery, obstruction of justice and racketeering. Except for the Civil War Senators, no senator has been removed. Some senators have talked about barring Roy Moore from the senate if he is elected. They have a problem, because the senate can only do that if the person doesn’t meet the constitutional requirements of being a U.S. citizen, doesn’t reside in the state he or she has been elected to represent or if the person elected is not yet at least 30 years old. To get around this some senators have said let him take his seat then vote to expel him. This would take two thirds vote for him to be expelled. No senator has ever been expelled for actions taken before they became senators and only one was removed who was not connected with the South in the Civil War. He was William Blout in 1787, because he tried to instigate a rebellion in then Spanish controlled Florida and Louisiana so the British could seize those colonies. He thought he could make a killing in land sales if this happened. There have been attempts to expel senators which failed. In 1907 Reed Smoot who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was accused of taking a religious oath which made him ineligible to serve. A senator named LaFollette had been charged with sedition in 1917 for not wanting the U.S. to enter World War I. Five Senators resigned to avoid expulsion. One was Robert Packwood. The senate ethics committee can only make a recommendation on whether there should be an expulsion vote by the full senate. Today there seems to be plenty of sexual harassment complaints going around and a few years back there was one which stated congressional pages were being sexually harassed, but today’s charges seem to be sticking and even gaining steam. They are aimed at both sides of the isle and it seems like it will only take a little while longer before they spread to state and local governments. I am not even considering other fields such as entertainment and such since this is a political article, but that is happening also. I for one am glad to see this, because I knew it was going on for years. I am not going to mention any names, but I remember being in an elevator with some court personnel many years ago and there was a judge in the back of the elevator. A pretty court reporter was in front of him and she was touched inappropriately. When she saw it was the judge who was doing it she got scared for her job if she said anything harsh. He was not the only one I saw do these things. This just isn’t right. Why should politicians think they can do things which are abhorrent to society and even crimes, just because they are more powerful than us? Power is like a drug and after a while these people can get intoxicated with it. They go to parties and get announced and given the seat of honor, people fawn all over them and yes them to death and tell them how great they are and they begin to think they are gods and can do anything they want. I can’t really say this is all of the politicians, but it certainly is quite a few. The rules of conduct in the House and Senate should be changed. If conduct which would be considered a crime is proven the senator or representative should be expelled. Its time our representatives are treated the same way the general public would be. There should also be a rule put into place in both the house and senate which subjects all members to the same laws as the general public. Why should these people be able to pass laws exempting themselves from liability for doing something which would be a crime if we did it? The days of royalty in this country are long gone and yet many of our politicians think they are part of the royal court. |
