The Republican Party has enjoyed being King of the
Hill (Capitol Hill, that is). Republicans have taken, snatched or
stolen gifts, tax dollars, positions and civil liberties in a nose-thumbing
way that has been politically debilitating for most Americans. The
recent incident involving Florida Congressman Mark Foley has made
the screeching wheels of their run-away power train heard around
the world.
At a time when the political pendulum is shifting,
Republicans are scrambling to do damage control. This is like trying
to put perfume on skunk funk - it only makes it worse.
With the discovery of an instant message from Foley
to a teen page, the Grand Old Party doesn’t seem to be so grand.
The party of family values is losing its currency going into the
November elections.
Foley
led an arrogant tirade against former president Bill Clinton after
the Monica Lewinsky debacle. Now, Foley has taken the cowardly way
out by blaming his pedophiliac behavior on alcohol and checking
himself into rehab. He’s letting his attorney and GOP high rollers
explain his actions.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Unchecked
abuse of power begets more abuse of power. It’s a shame when we
allow children to be victims of power games.
In a society where trust is routinely broken and promises
shattered, teaching young children about whom to trust is becoming
more and more problematic. We have to teach them about potential
invaders of their privacy and bodies. All of the figures they once
could look up to are suspect -teachers, coaches, priests, elected
officials. None of these are the bogey-man types that children would
automatically fear.
In typical cover-up style, Republican bureaucrats
sat on the information until they got busted. This behavior is despicable
when it deals with military intelligence (or lack thereof). But
when they knowingly put children at risk, literally sending them
into the lion’s den, that is contemptuous. I dare any bible-thumpin’
Republican to defend such.
One Republican analyst called Foley a “known homosexual”
on national TV. Whether that’s true or not, homosexuality and pedophilia
are not synonymous. It is now seeping out like sewer water from
a cesspool that it was known that Foley likes young boys. The word
in the Beltway among the male pages and other interns was “Watch
out for Foley!”
Foley was a six-term Congressman which means he was
part of the stealing of the presidential election in Florida. He’s
also been part of making some of the toughest laws to protect children
against sex predators.
As co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited
Children Caucus, it would be poetic justice if Foley were prosecuted
to the fullest extent of a law he helped to sponsor.
BC Editorial Board member Jamala Rogers is the Leader
of the Organization
for Black Struggle in St. Louis and the Black
Radical Congress National Organizer. |