Now a Balance of Power is Important

So it's alright for the president can run roughshod over constitutional rights for ordinary citizens and can be rubber stamped by congress with little oversight--no need for a balance of power there. But a corrupt congressman has his office raided by FBI agents with a court approved warrant and now we need checks and balances?!? First off, there is no way this guy should remain in the US House. Guilty or innocent (and it's looking like if he is declared innocent it will be on a technicality, not based on true innocence) he needs to resign. Perception is politics. The perception in this case will not be reversed. True or not, he has become a stain that will taint the November elections for his whole party. Whether the charges are true or not, his current behavior is corrupt, though not illegal. The really odd thing about this all is the reaction from republicans.

The GOP seems aghast that an investigation into corruption would result in a warranted search of a congressional office. Warrentless wiretapping? Oh, that's fine, but we can't have corrupt politicians investigated by the FBI if that is going to result in them going to a judge, getting a warrant and searching the offices of the corrupt politicians. Where will we (I mean they) hide evidence against us (them) if not there?!? It seems that the GOP is terrified that their stall tactics on corruption against their buddies will fail if the federal police are allowed to investigate. Think about congressional investigations into corruption this way: a college professor has uncovered cheating by several students in one of his classes (the obvious kind). If this were congressional rules the prof would tell the rest of the class that there was cheating, give the evidence, and then pass the cheaters with the hope that their classmates would do something about it. The cheaters would then help others cheat and the class would be content that there was not any unfair advantage and everyone would get the exact same grade with the professor powerless to do anything about it. That is bullshit. This is why Congress policing itself and cracking down on corruption is a joke. It's political meaningless drivel, and both parties are playing it. Real corruption is not the illegal activities of a handfull of congressmen and women, it is the complicity of the rest of them demonstrate by doing nothing to fix it.

I did not get this finished until evening, and saw this in the meantime. Pretty much says a similar thing.