Clarification: Democrats' Arch-Nemesis

A little clarification on this comment from the post Baby, I PROMISE I won’t hit you ever again…:

She’s called for a congressional investigation [into the Corps of Engineers post-Katrina installation of faulty pumps in New Orleans] and I think it’s a great idea, IF the Democrats can stay on topic – the Corps repeated malfeasance and lies – and not use this as [a weapon] against their archnemesis, Osama bin Laden President Bush.

That is an incomplete expression of how I’ve felt about our politics since shortly after the war began. While I think it’s true that the Democrats focus on “getting” President Bush to the exclusion of almost everything else – and that is proved to my satisfaction by the rhetoric, legislation, media interviews, and lack of action in national security and war funding by the Democratic Party – that certainly does not mean I wholeheartedly approve of President Bush and the Republican party. Simply put, I don’t feel required to love one and hate the other. While the Democrats’ goals are wrong and bad for the country, the Republicans’ goals are only – sometimes – marginally better. Open borders, lack of law enforcement against business owners who hire illegals, poor management of Iraq and Afghanistan… that’s a good start but it’s hardly a complete list. And they all gorge themselves on pork – buying our votes with our own money.

I recently read Term Limitsby Vince Flynn. While I do not advocate assassinating members of Congress, the truth is that the book sold well because most of us can empathize with the frustration felt by the characters in the book. We’re tired of it all, and it often feels hopeless. We just can’t seem to dislodge them once they get into office. When you see the second generation and other relatives (Tennessee’s Ford family, the Kennedys, or the Bush family) holding office year after year, or worse, decade after decade – it seems like real reform is impossible. I can’t help but think of Abram bargaining with God over the destruction of Sodom. Are there 50 honest, effective public servants in Congress? 45? 40? 30? 20? Even 10?