A DEMOCRACY IN PERIL?--

This from an AP story running Tuesday:
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Rep. Jefferson Indicted in Bribery Probe

WASHINGTON (AP) - Louisiana congressman William Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and sought millions more in nearly a dozen separate schemes to enrich himself by using his office to broker business deals in Africa, according to a federal indictment Monday.

The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer...
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The indictment contains 16 counts and could lead to imprisonment for up to 235 years if he is convicted. The $90 thousand in cash mentioned above was from marked bills he allegedly accepted from an FBI informant.

Nevertheless, our system requires he be considered innocent until proven guilty. Yup, I’d consider this bozo innocent—as I slammed his cell door and tossed the key to await the formality of his trial, conviction and sentencing.

Periodically during this investigation the major news angle on the story involved the congress critters wringing their hands and bemoaning the investigation as a breech of congressional privilege. “How dare the FBI raid the offices of a congressman?” they wailed.

Equally as pathetic, this clown was reelected to his seat while this investigation was being actively and publicly pursued.

Which brings up a companion topic; we in the US like to slam-dunk the congress which, is often so richly deserved, but, we absolutely love “our” congressman. After all, he or she is the one who builds us a new post office or brings all manner of pork-barrel goodies back to his home district—the very thing we find so offensive when it happens in someone else’s congressional district.

So, in summary, we have 1) Yet another alleged abuse of political power, 2) A constituency which ignores the allegations and reelects their favorite miscreant, and 3) A congress which routinely feels it is above the very laws they create for the rest of us to obey.

In another story today, a bunch of folks in Vermont, “disillusioned by what they call ‘an empire about to fall’...” has started the process to secede from the Union.

*Gasp* Running a democracy is certainly a challenge.