The beauty of impeaching a public official is that it recalibrates the standard for political morality, letting other politicos gauge just how low they can go.
A SHORT HISTORY OF PRACTICAL POLS AND TERMINAL DECAY
Excuse me if I don't remember rightly, what with just turning 75, but I think some pols used to have a sense of duty. There were real left wing Ds, way beyond even New Deal left. They would be appalled at this tepid center-right D elite. There were also prog Rs like Edward Brooks and Dan Evans. Perhaps a bit noblesse oblige, but at least they were decent people nice to the help. I used to ask: there's an R apple orchard owner from Wenatchee and a D inner city social worker from Seattle--who's the bad guy? I witnessed bitter debates and actual fist fights in the wings, but when the end of the session loomed, they came together (if begrudgingly) for the common good of the state.
I spent many years ('60s-'80s) at the state legislature and some around Congress. I knew how politics really worked. Few of us cared about what the Ds did on the side to benefit themselves since they were also highly aware they needed to fight for their constituencies as the people who kept them in office. A truism was that the Rs didn't have to be visible crooks since companies could pay them as alleged management or consultants. Then the Ds shifted to corporate/1%er sponsorship and away from rank and file activism. They now do for us peasants only the bare minimum to keep us from abandoning them altogether.
The D rightward shift helped enable the R shift to an unholy alliance of Christofascists and 1%er shills. The two share a love of certainty and control. The Cfs are terrified of a changing world and they want to prevent that by forcing the rest of us conform to their beliefs. The only value the 1%ers recognize is $$$. It's no wonder the Rs in office consider the only purpose is to enrich themselves. Their corporate masters aren't stupid; they know the econopathy is ill. It's on a life support system that depends on death--wars and ecosystem destruction. The whole sick R bunch (and many Ds) are stripping what remains of middle class wealth and making sure it trickles towards them in the short time remaining.
This cartoon should show the elephant digging down into hell to WALK over the Reichwingers' very low bar.
I must admit to slight disappointment. While the linked article confirms Rep. Slaton was expelled, I found no mention of actual defenestration.
A SHORT HISTORY OF PRACTICAL POLS AND TERMINAL DECAY
Excuse me if I don't remember rightly, what with just turning 75, but I think some pols used to have a sense of duty. There were real left wing Ds, way beyond even New Deal left. They would be appalled at this tepid center-right D elite. There were also prog Rs like Edward Brooks and Dan Evans. Perhaps a bit noblesse oblige, but at least they were decent people nice to the help. I used to ask: there's an R apple orchard owner from Wenatchee and a D inner city social worker from Seattle--who's the bad guy? I witnessed bitter debates and actual fist fights in the wings, but when the end of the session loomed, they came together (if begrudgingly) for the common good of the state.
I spent many years ('60s-'80s) at the state legislature and some around Congress. I knew how politics really worked. Few of us cared about what the Ds did on the side to benefit themselves since they were also highly aware they needed to fight for their constituencies as the people who kept them in office. A truism was that the Rs didn't have to be visible crooks since companies could pay them as alleged management or consultants. Then the Ds shifted to corporate/1%er sponsorship and away from rank and file activism. They now do for us peasants only the bare minimum to keep us from abandoning them altogether.
The D rightward shift helped enable the R shift to an unholy alliance of Christofascists and 1%er shills. The two share a love of certainty and control. The Cfs are terrified of a changing world and they want to prevent that by forcing the rest of us conform to their beliefs. The only value the 1%ers recognize is $$$. It's no wonder the Rs in office consider the only purpose is to enrich themselves. Their corporate masters aren't stupid; they know the econopathy is ill. It's on a life support system that depends on death--wars and ecosystem destruction. The whole sick R bunch (and many Ds) are stripping what remains of middle class wealth and making sure it trickles towards them in the short time remaining.
As I have said before, it's time to return Mexico's lost provinces.