http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10692635/)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180409,00.html)
It seems like now the entire republican party is either indicted or under investigation.
Discuss...
No duh. Not much to discuss.
It seems like now the entire republican party is either indicted or under investigation.Not just some Republicans, but some Democrats too:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_Keeping_the_Money.html)
Personally, I hope whoever doesn't give the money back gets punished. And even those who do give the $$$ back should be penalized, no matter who they are. I hope this scandal rids the country of the corruption that infests all parties and levels of government.
I don't care if criminals are right or left. They deserve what they get because they did it. This is hardly political.
Yes and no. The problem is deeper than a superficial molehunt. The American - uh - political system needs to do some major housecleaning vis-a-vis its lobbyists.
The problem is that the constitution permits people access to lobby their representatives.
As it should. The problem with a written constitution is that its always going to be pretty vague, and therefore always open to exploitation by people.
A lot of the papers here are implying this may lead to a cleanup of the mess that is washington lobbying, but scandals ike this happen every so often, and nothing ever chages long term.
I'm not sure there is any way you can allow "the people" to lobby their representatives, but somehow shut out professional lobbiers. Though f course the chance of a everyday joe being able to get anyone's attention with 40,000 proffessionals in their way is miniscule.
The real problem is the insane cost of US elections. Doesn't running a campaign cost around 20m? Meaning that while in office a politician has to raise around $9000 a day to fund his next campaign? With that kind of system corruption is going to have to be indemic... even though politicians with good intentions are going to have to set asside their principles if they want to stay in office.
Not sure i can think of any obvious solutions.
The entire political system is shot through. We in the USA have endured the "least of 11 evils" vote in 1996, 2000, and 2004. You're right, ShadowTemplar. If it wasn't for the fact that it's impossible, I'd be petitioning for a complete re-do of the government, from the President to the House of Reps, to the Supreme Court, and our Congress.
The problem is that you need important people to support it, and no politician will openly support losing his job. That's just common sense that even politicians have.
Not necessarily...what we need is a news media willing to report all of the facts so that the people will see who our politicians really are and vote them out of office.
That MSNBC article in the first post is a bunch of liberal biased crap, imo...it mentions several Republicans, but leaves the Dems feeling squeaky clean, which is as far from the truth as I am from Antarctica.
That MSNBC article in the first post is a bunch of liberal biased crap, imo...it mentions several Republicans, but leaves the Dems feeling squeaky clean, which is as far from the truth as I am from Antarctica.
I added an alternative link to my post. :)
That MSNBC article in the first post is a bunch of liberal biased crap, imo...it mentions several Republicans, but leaves the Dems feeling squeaky clean, which is as far from the truth as I am from Antarctica.
Not squeaky clean, perhaps. But certainly far less compromised. Naturally the republican damage control affizirs are trying to pull a Manpower. Can't do anything else, really. But if you buy into the notion that Abramoff wasn't chiefly a Republican money laundrerer, I've got some Enron shares I want to sell.