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October
4, 2006 – It is situations like this that make everything
clear.
No one of any political stripe would for
a second condone, excuse, or believe in giving cover to a man who
threatens youth as a sexual predator. As people, religious or
non-religious, liberal, moderate, or conservative, every single one
of us, upon hearing the actions of now-former US Representative Mark
Foley, would refer the matter to the proper authorities and make
sure the man faces the proper consequences for his actions.
It is not in the least bit likely that
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) felt that Foley's e-mails to
various pages - boys whose parents entrusted their safety to the
hands of our governmental leaders - were acceptable. Nor is it
believable that Mr. Hastert, in his personal beliefs, didn't believe
more serious action should be taken.
And yet, good men who knew about Foley's
harassment of young male pages did nothing.
This is the clearest demonstration of
the problem that is political party. Were there no political
parties, there would be no reason for Hastert and other Republicans
who knew about former Rep. Foley's actions to cover things up for
even a second. If there were not some label called
"Republican" to cling to, this would have been nothing more than the
bad actions of a single man, and all the other good people around,
Hastert included, would have taken full, immediate action in
response.
But, as we have seen with the Congress
again and again giving cover to a President who repeatedly breaks
the law, loyalty to political party leads people to aid and abet the
most heinously evil of actions, in this latest instance, sexual
harassment of underage boys and possible pedophilia.
In the last election, Senator John
McCain supported George W. Bush even though Bush was openly
supporting torture - something McCain, a former prisoner of war
himself, strongly opposes. McCain could have thrown his
support behind Senator John Kerry's presidential bid.
But being loyal to his party was more
important than standing up against something as horrible as torture
- even for McCain who knew first hand how important protection
against torture is.
The story of the last six years in
America, of our nation being stuck in a war based on lies, spending
ourselves into debt we may never recover from, of again and again
looking the other way as our President violates our laws and
Constitution, all center around one theme: loyalty to
political party. Once people become loyal to a political
party, it comes before their morals, their beliefs, and their
nation.
This one is a no brainer. Former
Rep. Foley was at least harassing, possibly molesting, young pages
entrusted to our elected leaders. Every single member of
Congress of every political strip and party is on the same page in
this one.
But thanks to that evil known as
political party, Foley was left to continue on as a threat to young
men and without punishment for his actions.
At this moment, no one can let political
party stand in the way of prosecuting every single person who gave
cover and failed to take all possible action in response to the
abusive behavior of this disgusting man. All members of
Congress, the Senate, and the Oval Office must be - if only for this
one instance - like us Moderate Independents, caring only about
truth, and what is best for the nation, and not about stupid labels
and loyalty to elephants or jackasses.
If the safety of young boys isn't more
important than loyalty to political party, than what ever will be?
Of course President Bush has shown where
his loyalty lies by coming to Hastert's defense - there is no
question he will never put morals before political wants.
But with mid-term elections just weeks
away, it is time for Republican members of Congress to show if they
are capable of serving their nation. If Hastert's and the
heads of anyone else who gave cover to Foley's actions don't roll,
every single Republican head should roll.
And in case you aren’t sure that the Republicans are so
crassly amoral as to be more concerned with politics than the safety of
children, look at how FOX News tries to use this incident to smear Democrats,
by flat out putting a dishonest image on their screen – three times, as
reported by Crooks and Liars, claiming Foley is a Democrat.
Case closed. Anyone
who didn’t get how amoral FOX, O’Reilly, and the GOP they support are, this image should open your eyes.
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