The Duke of Disgrace

George Neumayr:

The difference between Randy "Duke" Cunningham and many of his Congressional colleagues is one of degree, not kind. He is an extreme manifestation of a corruption pervasive in Congress, a crookedness that spreads with the size of the federal government. Had Cunningham just waited a little while and become a defense firm lobbyist, he could have received his Rolls-Royce, yacht, and Louis-Philippe commode legally.

In Washington, D.C., cause and effect are never examined honestly. Politicians are expert at bemoaning a troubling effect even as they deepen its cause. So while the Democrats crank up their "culture of corruption" campaign and Republicans express to the press horror at their colleague Cunningham's conduct, both parties will continue to approve and strengthen the catalyst of money-related corruption: the Leviathan-like size and power of the federal government. This is the reason so much dirty money is sloshing back and forth between them and lobbyists. The more the federal government's reach is extended, the more lobbyists' money is spent to stay or release its hand.

What will come out of the furor over Cunningham? A new crop of politicians willing to reduce the size of government so that lobbyists' won't bother to buy them off? No, the only change that is likely to occur is the creation of a few more phony "ethics" guidelines. Perhaps Congress will even hold another "hour-long ethics briefing." Remember that episode earlier this year? The "ethics" briefing was to help Congressmen learn how to fill out the proper forms after lunching with lobbyists.

Congress has become avarice writ large, taking more and more money from the American people for projects the people never see, use, or need but enrich pols and the special interests to which they are allied. In any other context this would be called theft. In Congress it is called outreach to constituents or government services. The real crisis, in other words, is not this or that avaricious clown (who is usually too inept to conceal his corruption like his colleagues) but a widely held corrupt political philosophy that normalizes avarice as a routine practice of the federal government.

"Ethics" rules have been multiplying since the Watergate era. Yet they never make politicians any more ethical, because they are detached from any just political or moral philosophy that would impress upon politicians the duty to exercise power modestly. The money scandals of recent years are due not to the absence of enough ethical rules but the presence of a widening federal trough that attracts an absurdly large number of lobbyists to D.C. each year.

He's right---big government invariably brings big-time corruption.

Remember John McCain and the rest of the Keating Five.

And lest we forget, the Democrats are the masters of political corruption---remember the House Bank scandal? Abscam? Marion Barry? Every damned Kennedy?