"Lawmakers seek to gut ethics office"
Sunday, June 13, 2010
You always hope that politicians engage in public life to promote the common good (regardless of party or ideology). Like many Americans, I'm often skeptical of professional politicians or those that seem to long for public office above all else. We wonder if our elected leaders are their to solve problems and make lives better or to satisfy their own ego - or in the worst case to enrich themselves.
Democrats and Republicans have fallen from grace and into scandal. Politics attracts some odd ducks and more than the occasional corrupt individual. That is why it is so important for strong ethical oversight in the United States Congress and at all levels of government.
Democrats campaigned on stronger oversight in 2006 and 2008 but now democrats and their republican colleagues are looking at ways to weaken such oversight in the U.S. House.
Their actions cheapen our politics and will serve to only increase the divide people feel between themselves and their elected representatives. Trust is earned but both political parties keep offering up reasons for us to believe the system is broken and that neither party is committed to fixing it.
Unless they get their act together Democrats that counted on reform minded progressives in 2006 and 2008 for money and volunteers may just find themselves looking for work after the November elections this year.