Descend into the Maelstrom

Ex-House Republican Mark Foley gets caught doing all sorts of lewd things with male Congressional pages who are probably under the age of 16.  Several feelings welled up inside me: disgust at his actions, pleasure that he lost his seat, hope that this would help Democrats take the House back.  But there was one feeling I felt more than anything else, by far.  Cynicism, and hopelessly large doses of it.  I became cynical about Foley, about Congress, about government in general.  Let me just give you a taste of the depressing thoughts I began thinking as a result of this Foley asshole.

* I wasn’t even suprised.  Were you??? With dozens of Republicans and Democrats involved in all sorts of scandals and crimes, some of them involving the tangled web of Jack Abramoff, I’ve become so cynical that I’ve come to suspect most of these guys are molesting teenage boys when they’re not engaging in corruption.  The Catholic Priesthood and American corporate CEO’s don’t have a monopoly on the abuse of ultimate trust and power, do they?

* I truly believe that the current administration stole the last two presidential elections- particularly Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.  The electoral system is Bush-league (pun intended).  Hanging chads, uncounted provisional votes, standing in line for 6 hours, and wildly inconsistent voting technology from county to county: we’re  trying to encourage democracy in the Middle East but we can’t even get it right ourselves?  I went to vote two weeks ago and had ZERO confidence that the crappy old 1960s-era voting machine I used in the East Village would record my vote properly.  Why the f*** isn’t there one, nationally consistent, centrally administered electronic voting system?  Tell me one good reason.  To follow the line of reasoning which I’ve outlined here is to believe that we are functioning under an illegitimate government.  With Senator Kerry giving Bush the Skull and Bones handshake all the way back to Massachussets.

* I am certain Foley’s fellow Republicans are lying when they say they did not have prior knowledge of his escapades.  It is not a far stretch to believe that political machinations are more important to these slimeballs than protecting the young people who come to work in Congress, bright-eyed and fresh-faced to learn about how our great government works in the City that Washington and Lincoln built.

* Thanks to our government, our civil liberties and those of prisoners from foreign countries are eroding before our eyes, under the pretext of making us safer.  Torture at Abu Ghraib, secret torture prisons, indefinite detention without trial at Guantanamo, wiretapping without a warrant, and cold-blooded murders of civilians by half-crazed US soldiers, when they’re not dropping like flies in the Iraqi wasteland.  These have all become part of our not-so-shocking American reality.  Just a few years ago, wouldn’t all of this have seemed extreme and authoritarian?  And there are fools out there who would claim that they don’t understand why foreigners hate us?  I have become cynical about the collective IQ of our nation.  We’re idiots, and we’re making things worse.  With my taxpayer dollars, goddammit.

* DOES ANYTHING I’M WRITING HERE MATTER ANYWAY? My cynicism about the citizenry is the most depressing of all.  The media presents a watered-down, corporation-controlled, special-interest pandering version of government news hidden deep on page 12, behind coverage of celebrity gossip and human-interest bullshit.  Most people don’t read even this lame offering about politics.  Those who do, don’t seem to care too much.  The ones who care, like me, feel powerless because there are so few who (a) know what’s going on in our government and (b) care.

Our best people are clearly not in charge.  If the morons in charge right now are the best we have to offer as our leaders, we’re in serious trouble.  What’s that you say?  I’m not doing anything about it?  At least I’m writing this goddamn blog.