Friday, October 28, 2005

Corruption in Our Government

I haven't been following the Valerie Plame case all that closely, so maybe my opinion is ill-informed. But with the news of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby's indictment, the whole issue really has come front and center. Karl Rove avoided an indictment, which is great for Bush, I guess.

I've always believed that conservatives value the rule of law. We eschew excuses for law breakers, which is why most conservatives are law and order types.

If that's how we expect the average citizen to act, shouldn't we at least hold our leaders up to the same standard? We now have the Vice President's top aide, as well as the speaker of the house under indictment. And Karl Rove, the President's top advisor, is still in serious legal trouble.

Should we be happy Rove might get off? Isn't it ridiculous that there is even a question of law breaking at the highest levels of our government? Shouldn’t we expect our leaders to at least avoid legal problems?

Conservatives despised Clinton for (among other things) his constant abuse of the law. And granted he broke the law, which is worse than just his aide committing criminal misconduct. But Bush is supposed to be better than Clinton. We should hold Bush to a much higher standard.

Bush needs to make a point. I like Karl Rove as much as any Republican, because he's an excellent political strategist (excluding the Miers fiasco). But the President cannot be advised by someone who barely escaped indictment by the skin of his teeth. The institution of the presidency demands more. We must demand more. Rove must be dismissed.

No comments: