Democrats and the Culture of Corruption

By Jim Simpson

I will reiterate my charge that this November’s election was a disaster of epic proportions. I will now add a dire prediction. If we do not regain Republican majorities in Congress, or succeed in placing a principled, dedicated Republican in the White House in 2008, our Constitutional Republic will be forever consigned, as Lenin promised, to the dustbin of history. These next two years will be critical. I cannot emphasize enough just how critical.

Nancy Pelosi’s leadership picks are a shocking demonstration of just how confident, even brazen, she feels in her puny victory. Given their slim majorities, this confidence is scary. What do they know that we don’t? In conjunction with Democrats’ post-election call for immediate “redeployment” of troops to Okinawa, for example, Nancy Pelosi announced the author of that proposal, John Murtha as her pick for House Majority Leader.

Murtha is a stunning choice for number two, especially in light of Democrats’ high profile promises to “clean up” the “Culture of Corruption.” Not that I ever believed that absurd promise, for the Dems define the culture of corruption, but Murtha??

I know, on the face of it: Marine Vietnam Veteran, "conservative" Democrat, voted for the war (before he went against it), blah, blah, blah. But Murtha’s ignoble past has been carefully hidden by our faithful Fourth Estate. If he were a Republican, he would have been unemployed years ago, and would likely be behind bars, but he’s a Democrat, so he got a pass…until now.

It is indeed curious that his past is coming back to haunt him now. None of this made the news before he won re-election, despite his challenger’s efforts to bring it to light. My guess is that the mass media is worried that appointing Murtha to such a high visibility post will put a spotlight on just how little the Dems really care about corruption. After all, we don’t want to hurt Hillary’s chances in 2008, do we?

So now, after he is safely elected, doing his part to assure the Democrat majority, we find out all about his ethics “issues.” Corruption has many faces, not least of which is the mass media’s increasing penchant for deliberately deceiving the voting public when it serves their partisan, leftist agenda. Murtha’s undeniable corruption is news no responsible media would deny us. But they did. Until now.

Murtha’s ethics problems have been summarized in an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal today. Read it here. Even better, The American Spectator recently released the full unedited FBI ABSCAM undercover video of John Murtha, which they got from someone close to the investigation. It is one hour long, so prepare yourself. See it here. This has never been made public, although the transcripts are in the National Archives. You can read the Spectator article here. And for all his “Tough Marine” posturing, Murtha seems enamored of Reds. Read about that ignoble chapter here.

If you had any doubt about Democrats’ “Culture of Corruption,” these discussions should bury it forever. The entire House of Representatives under the Democrats was corrupt, and we have just re-elected those members who survived the first purge in 1994! It seems apparent they intend to go back to pre-Newt Gingrich business as usual, post-haste.

Another stunning affirmation of this is Pelosi’s proposal of Alcee Hastings to lead the House Intelligence Committee. Here is a guy who as a Carter appointed federal judge was impeached 413 to 3 by a Democratically controlled Congress and thrown off the court for accepting a $150,000 bribe in return for favorably manipulating the sentences of two felons. Now, how often does that happen? Answer: six times in the history of the U.S. Senate!) Never mind simply being in Congress, even in a leadership position, but chairing the Intelligence Committee??? Is Pelosi out of her mind? (Sorry, that was a rhetorical question.)

Hastings is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which has in its membership the most blatantly communist-leaning Congresspeople in the House. For an amazingly revealing study of Congressional Democrats’ increasingly communist tilt, the following National Review article, written in 1987, is essential reading: Congress’s Red Army.

Now, there is precedent. In 1994, Democrats blithely appointed hardcore communist Ron Dellums to lead the House Armed Services Committee. (Dellums co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus.) He was famous for promising: “We should totally dismantle every intelligence agency in this country piece by piece, brick by brick, nail by nail.”

So a treasonous appointment from the Treason Party should come as no surprise, but with all their talk of the “Culture of Corruption” you’d think Pelosi would show some restraint. Even if the Democrats’ plan for us was not malevolent – which at it’s heart, I have to tell you, it really is – such utter disregard for the damage these grossly corrupt individuals are capable of, screams to us of the danger.

The world is a very dangerous place, particularly dangerous at this critical juncture in our history. A corrupt party appointing corrupt individuals, who will be charged with making life-and-death decisions for all of us, puts us literally at the mercy of monsters, because when the monsters come calling, and they will, those corrupt individuals can only be reliably counted on to do one thing: help themselves, regardless of the consequences to the rest of us.

God save the United States. Our government can no longer be counted on to do so.

Freelance writer Jim Simpson is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst (1987-1993). His writings have been published in the Washington Times, FrontPage Magazine, DefenseWatch online newsletter, Soldier of Fortune magazine, Military magazine and others.