WHY THE DELAY? Let's get on with it!
If and when very little doubt remains that Congress Tom DeLay, Republican whip in the House of Representatives from Texas, has been getting “outsiders” and “hired agents of industry” to pay some of his personal expenses., action should be taken at once.
The House, and other such investigative bodies, so often seem to dwell on such weak contentions which insist that “everybody does it” which accomplishes absolutely nothing - even does real harm to any movement tending toward honesty by encouraging others who might be holding such secrets .
Another common way is to encourage the media to inundate the public areas with a surge of extra information on any and all related subjects which tactic can kill any campaign of reformation by complicating the world of supporters and critics alike by confusing them and causing divisions.
The main contention this time has to do with who paid for a golf outing Tom DeLay and others made to the historic St. Andrews golf course in Scotland.
It should make little difference if the accused is of a particular party or none at all, because maintaining a high moral and ethical standard for one's party is a primary reason for retaining membership.
Precedence is important to be seen not as a holy writ demanding repetition. Rather, commonsense observations such as: “If it was good enough for Newt Gingrich, then it's good enough for Tom DeLay.”seem to serve well.
Under ideal conditions, which never exit in politics, one might think a man of the people would simply resign when it became evident he no longer stood for their views. It doesn't work that way because getting to such a place is far more difficult and costly in our time. On does not give up such attainment casually.
Yet, we must have some method of removal, clearance of guilt if accused, and possibly steps leading to restitution. This places new burdens on the group judging its fellows. The need to a devise system for weeding out the mis-fitted, the momentarily mistaken, and the worthless from their ranks. What is the purpose of having a Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct if not enforced. They are meaningless if they can be bent, fractured, broken or ignored.
A.L.M. April 17, 2005 [c389wds]
