December 18, 2003
Two Party System Fails Us Once Again
It must be the week of the corrupt Republican governor. Fresh on the heels of Connecticut Republican Governor John Rowland’s disclosure of yet more ethics violations, comes the federal indictment of the former Republican governor of my state of Illinois, George Ryan, on you guessed it, corruption and ethics violations.
In Connecticut the Democrats, surprise, surprise, seem powerless to remove the scoundrel John Rowland from office. The scoundrel is unwilling to put the public good above his own bloated ego, and therefore refuses to do the honorable thing and step down. Meanwhile, here in Illinois, the acrimony between the former governor and the current Democratic governor is taking on a life of its own. Ryan, of course refuses to admit that he did anything wrong, despite the conviction of some 59 of his former inner circle cronies on a vast array of corruption and ethics violations, the most egregious of which were perpetrated by his former Chief of Staff, Scott Faywell.
But underlying it all is a further erosion of the public’s trust in the institutions of government upon which we rely to enforce our laws. How much longer before this sort of unabashed, immoral greed, coupled with stupefying lapses in personal integrity, vastly undermines the very foundations of our Republic; or am I naïve enough to believe that the process is not already well underway? And one could argue that this is yet another failing of our two party system, because in both cases a Republican governor was kowtowed to by Democrat controlled legislatures. Huh?
Posted by V. Edward Martin at December 18, 2003 03:43 PMDon’t forget Gray Davis. He was an idiot and refused to step down.
—Joe
Posted by: joestump at December 19, 2003 11:39 AMI was a little surprised by the Ryan indictments. While I’ve been watching the scandals around him unfold for years, inching ever closer, I’d thought there was some sort of agreement that if he didn’t run for reelection that they’d stop short of taking the scandal to the top. Was there pressure from Blogojevich or where the charges just too egregious to overlook? Illinois politics—they’re sure fun to watch!
Posted by: blipsman at December 19, 2003 09:28 PMThe Two party system has become a one party system with the lack of much difference in policies when they get into power.
Remember it was Clinton who brought in the 5 year lifetime limit for welfare.
We need a third party alternative but with Nader leaving the Green Party I now doubt that they will become a third party alternative.
Posted by: Federation of Metro Toronto Tenants Associations at January 17, 2004 12:09 PM
