Dr. Forbush Thinks

It seems quite strange how the Radical Right is so hypocritical about the law. They seem to believe that they are above the law while they believe that those who they disagree with must be held to the highest standards of the law. In a free society I would hope to believe that we could come together and agree that every American should be held to the same standard of the law.

In the 1990s the radical right was just finding its legs and it reached for every weapon it could find to club and maim those it opposed. They claimed the house ethics rules were not strict enough and they managed to shame Democrats into passing stricter rules that were later used against the Democratic leadership at the time. Of course, the strict conservative stance came full circle and Newt Gingrich was forced to resign from the House because of his questionable but legal behavior. The Conservatives continued to play the ethics card through out the 1990s by accusing Bill Clinton of the never proven illegal Whitewater land deals in which an overreaching investigation climaxed with the revelation that Bill had received a BJ at the White House and lied about it.

Now that the Republicans have used both legal and illegal power moves to secure both houses of the legislature and the White House they have suddenly become much less concerned with the ethics of the lawmakers. In fact the Speaker of the House, Tom DeLay has allegedly participated in quite a few inappropriate financial deals, but the Attorney General doesn’t seem to be very interested in even launching an investigation into these activities. Compared to the accusation of Bill Clinton’s land deals these financial activities actually effect how people in our government have actually been elected. They concern how Texas government officials acquired power and obtained election funding. But, our government remains silent.

Conservatives pride themselves on how they support the defense of both our government and our country. They place patriotism next to religion on their priority list. They believe that extraordinary measures including the limitation of our own liberty need to be taken to protect the American way of life. They believe that the simple act of burning an American flag in protest should not be an act protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. So, when the Speaker of the House threatens a Federal Judge shouldn’t the Conservatives put their collective feet down and reprimand Speaker DeLay? By not even mentioning this, the Congress has sent a message in the form of an example. If you are with the ruling party, the rules don’t matter.

The Conservatives are saying: “Join us and break the law, because we are above the law.”

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