Ethics: Congress hasn't any!

Congress passed a sham of a law purported to restore ethics unto the People's branch of government. A little frill cut here, a little frill cut there. But, the mainstay of bribery by wealthy lobbyists and special interests was not touched. Congress reserved the right to be bribed by the wealthy campaign donors, which made this ethics reform anything but.

In fact, some critics argue that corruption will now intensify as lobbyists and special interests who sought to buy Congressional votes with meals, plane rides, and vacation packages, are now left with only one legal avenue to bribe Congressmen and women, by donating directly to their reelection campaign treasure chests.

And there's more to this sham! Congress had the option of eliminating the practice of their members slipping pet pork projects into legislative bills having nothing to do with the pet pork project. But, self-denial is not a trait of this Democratic Congress anymore than it was of the Republican Congress. They instead chose to allow pork spending to continue, bridges to nowhere to be tucked into bills in the dead of night on the eve of its being voted on.

Democrats will protest "But, now the pork spending will have the Congress person's name attached to it". And just how many voters in America will be researching through two years of legislation to seek out their candidate's name and read up on the many pork projects contributing to the bankrupting of America's future?

The fact remains, politicians are in love with money to get reelected. And they proved in this so called "ethics reform package", that a politician and money are not easily parted regardless of how unethical their being bribed is. Try bribing a local official in government. You will be arrested, prosecuted, and jailed. But, bribing a U.S. Congressperson through multi-million dollar contributions to their reelection bid, is legal. And this, Democrats and Republican Congresspersons call ethical.

The waste, fraud, and abuse of the American tax payer via pork project spending, and the legal bribery of Congress by multi-million dollar campaign contributions funneled through various party and other vehicles, continue. Is the public, who demanded a change in course on this fraud and rape of the tax payer, going to lie down and roll over for this? Or will the ranks of independent voters, dedicated to restoring our democracy, continue to grow and flex their muscle in 2008 by voting out incumbents in even greater numbers?

We shall see.