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May 09, 2005
Tom Delay
Liberalism is that principle, of political right, according to which the public Authority, in spite of being all-powerful limits itself and attempts, even at its own expense, to leave room in the State over which it rules for those to live who neither think nor feel as it does, that is to say as do the stronger, the majority. Liberalism—it is well to recall this to-day—is the supreme form of generosity; it is the right which the majority concedes to minorities and hence it is the noblest cry that has ever resounded in this planet. It announces the determination to share existence with the enemy; more than that, with an Enemy which is weak-Ortega y Gasset
This is a paragraph which has been haunting my thoughts for weeks. It refers not to Contemporary left-right divides, but to the divides between American Political Philosophy and everything else—between the Declaration of Independence and the darkness which came before it. I’ve wanted to take a moment to share this quote with the world; to put it out there so that we all may look at it and wonder if we live up to it. So, Tom Delay...
It isn’t that Delay’s scandalous behavior is so shocking from a politician; “[Politician] on the take” is probably the oldest headline in Newspaper history. It merits punishment, but is hardly the end of Democracy. Tom Delay might be...
The thing about Delay is that he has built up this machine. The first switch of his odious political contraption freezes opposition out of power. 50% +1 is all it takes, all he needs, and all that matters. If you don't already agree with him, you do not deserve access to the levers of power.
There is an interesting side-effect to the bureaucratic (I’m going somewhere here) system we’ve built up over the past several decades: congresspersons are needed to smooth out the rough edges. If grandma's social security check goes missing, she calls her United States representative and asks what went wrong. The Rep. then calls his aids and have them take care of it. This sort of thing called "casework", and most representatives maintain offices throughout their district for just this sort of thing. I had a buddy once who was a caseworker for a Republican Lawmaker. Once at a dinner he and I were at, he was asked why his boss was willing to work so hard for Democrats. His answer shocked the hell out of me—"if you see us as the good-guys, you’'l be more likely to vote for us"...
I hate to think of myself as politically naive. But the right answer, the only acceptable answer is "because it is his job as your representative". Try to imagine a CEO who looks out for the interests of 50%+1 of the outstanding shares, but ignores the needs of the rest. That sort of behavior was precisely what caused the scandals in the last business cycle...
Such an attitude is scandalous. Whether or not I believe that someone should be working for me does not mean that I deserve less than 100% of their efforts on my behalf. I am paying the man for the Gods' sake!
This may be a minor issue—after all the man was still doing work for me and my ideological friends. But it is indicative of a pattern. Hire a member of the Out party? Can't lobby a congress-member of the In party. It used to be that consensus was sought on all but the most divisive of issues. Not on Delay's watch. Now they go for consensus in their own party only. The voices of half of America are not even being recognized as being on the floor...
It is this winner-take-all approach which is illiberal and devastating. For his every-day corruption, Delay deserves departure. For his usurpation of the American Democratic process, he deserves imprisonment or exile...
Posted by Andrew at May 9, 2005 12:09 PM
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