And yet we have another in a long line of "So Called" public servants indicted on charges of lining their own pockets with money, goods and services. Ted Stevens. I don't call him Senator because he is not worthy just as "Duke" Cunningham is not worthy of any title other than corrupt or criminal.
Ted Stevens brought home the bacon to Alaska for many years as a member of many committees in the senate. It turns out Ted was taking delivery of Viking grills, getting home repairs and generally acting like the fat cat politician caricature that we love to hate.
While there are many honorable men and women in the Senate, Ted is not one of them. With bridges to nowhere and numerous other pork barrel earmarks, Ted is neither honorable nor the kind of man we want deciding our fate. I don't know what gets into the ethics gut check of these politicians, but we have to find a way to police our leaders, not with a self policing "wink wink nod nod" body, but with an outside group of retired judges with strong records of political independence. How else can we hold these men and women accountable?
While not part of the policing activity, there are some reforms that would curb the feeling of entitlement that many long term politicians seem to feel. One way would be to have term limits with four terms in the House and two in the Senate. This would prevent the huge power bases that ranking politicians seem to be able to build. Another would be to take all private funding away from elections and fund them publicly. Politicians should be beholden to their constituents, not to their highest $$ supporters and fund raisers. Maybe they would do the right thing for once rather than simply working for reelection.
It seems the only thing members of Congress will vote for these days is their own or others earmarks. We can't get them to vote for Immigration reform, Energy reform or Social Security reform, but they do fly back for hot button issues like the Terry Shiavo or to limit Stem Cell research. I don't believe any reforms will take place in my lifetime that will do anything other than incrementally add to what we have. Nothing is ever taken back, turned off or shut down, but they do vote to stop allowing Medicare to use competitive bidding when buying equipment for the elderly. The medical equipment makers shut that down with sweet donations to your favorite politicians. God forbid we try to save money anywhere. It goes on and on.
Let's clean up Capital Hill. Vote as many fat cats out as possible so that we can start with a clean slate. I'd rather reinvent the wheel than ride on the corruption ridden free spending wagon we seem to be forever hooked to.
