Blagojevich and the Selling of Our Democracy

Rod Blagojevich was found guilty today and became the first Governor of Illinois to be impeached. Even though Blagojevich claimed to be an ambassador for the working class, this unanimous guilty vote is a monumental victory for the entire democracy. Republicans and Democrats put aside party differences and came together to make a tough decision; but in the end it was the right decision. Now future Governors will know if they commit crimes they will be punished.

I could not help but think back to the Watergate scandal and how when Ford pardoned Nixon, it put a black mark on democracy which is still felt today. How is that you might ask? Because people within the government decided prosecuting the President would be bad for our Country. I disagreed whole heartedly with that decision and the lack of prosecution set a precedence which still plagues us today. The precedence set is the President of the United States is above the law. It sent a message to future leaders that if corruption is discovered, no need to worry, you'll get away with it.

Prosecuting crimes, even crimes committed by our leaders, does NOT expose weaknesses within our society, nor does it put a black mark on a society. Quite contrary the prosecution frees the society because the people speak out against the acts committed. It makes us stronger because it sends a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. No man, no position, not even the President is above the law.

I enjoy reading books about historical events and one of my favorite was the Nuremberg trials after World War 2. Many people disagreed with trials because they thought the Allies were abusing their power and prosecuting the losers. Not so. The purpose of the Nuremberg trials was to expose atrocities committed by the Nazis including: the Holocaust, execution of POWs and ritual killing of civilians in the many Nazi concentration camps. By prosecuting, the world set precedence that this behavior will not be tolerated, thus the rules of war were set by the Geneva Convention. So if any regime behaves in a similar fashion in future wars, they will also be prosecuted. This is the primary reason Progressives like myself were opposed to torture. By ignoring the Geneva Convention we were behaving like the Nazis in WW2. I believe we are better than that. So even if the other side tortures we will not because we are better than the other side; our moral compass is superior and never compromised.

I still believe the Bush Administrations policies on torture and surveillance should be investigated. If enemy combatants were tortured and killed then the leaders who allowed it should be prosecuted like the Nazi war criminals of WW2. Our society would then be vindicated and a message would be sent to the world and future Presidents that we do not condone torture. All who were involved even the leaders of the Democrats who knew should be included in this investigation. I believe the Democrats have blocked investigation attempts because they are just as guilty. I am talking about you, Nancy Pelosi.

The Blagojevich impeachment also exposes how thin the line is in our Democracy between lawful political contributions and illegal political contributions. Let me explain how thin this line has become. If I am a contributor to a political candidate or a politician in office, I can give money to influence a vote in my favor as long as the vote is NOT implied. So I can give money when the politician knows how I want them to vote and we might even have communicated so he knows how I want him to vote. So I give the money and he votes in my favor. This is legal.

It becomes illegal if I give the money and tell him directly I want the vote or he specifically states he will vote my way for the money. It is a very thin line. I think both should be illegal. If we removed cash from the Democracy we would get a better Democracy. Then the issues would be decided on merit and not monetary gain. Putting a price on votes is the reason bridges to nowhere get built and why the laws favor the few instead of the many.

So whether you are a Conservative or a Progressive you should expect the Government which represents you to behold the law. If a leader breaks a law they should be convicted just like any other person. That is the only way we can prevent our society from becoming illegitimate. We cannot expect other Countries to respect us until we reject illegal acts committed by our leaders. The unanimous prosecution of Blagojevich is a victory for Democracy and a step in direction of exposing how money corrupts the Republic.