Thoughts: Corruption

I want incumbent Robert Menendez to lose his Senate Race. Is that so hard to say?

I want Representative Duncan Hunter to lose his the 50th district of California, but 538 thinks he has an 8 in 9 chance of being reelected.

I want Chris Collins of New York's 27th district to lose, even though he won't.

If Andrew Gilliam is guilty, and there is serious reason to believe he might be, I want him to lose as well.

I want the President to lose reelection.

But what I really want is for voters to stop electing corrupt candidates.

The terrifying fact: all those people seem to be on track for (re)election (except the President who is not on the ballot this fall).

Corruption is unforgivable, even though the Supreme Court appears either unable to understand what corruption is, or doesn't care. Citizens need to demonstrate that we know what it is, and even if we can't imprison violators of communal respect, we can at least remove them from office. Voters need to send a message, that they will not accept a violation of the public trust.

I sense that most voters disagree with me. In this particularly partisan time, voters would rather a staunch ally, regardless of how stained, as long as they commit themselves to equality, justice, and a political party's agenda. I hope you see the mistake. How can a Representative, Senator, Governor, President, or a Supreme Court Justice be dedicated to those first two principals, if they are corrupt (and for that matter, how can they be dedicated to the first two principals if they are really committed to the third?)

One imagines voters tolerate corruption because they see the other side as equally complicit. As the long as the other party accepts corruption, we will too, they excuse. The only solution, one party must take a stand, like the Democrats did on sexual assault. The declared it intolerable, and demonstrated their commitment to this edict by pressuring Al Franklin to resign, even though he was a prominent and dedicated Democrat.

If the Democrats committed to stamping out corruption, they could use it as another prick upon the President, his cronies, and his judicial nominees. If the Republicans committed to ending corruption, well, they'd have to remove the President first...

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