Is our politics dysfunctional because of the corrosive nature of money in politics? The following Real Time with Bill Maher skit makes one wonder.
Bill Maher calls out an America that gets the politicians it deserves
I want to believe Representative Vance McAllister (R-LA), the Congressman who was caught on tape last year passionately kissing his staffer when he says he is a new man and quote “bless with a great family and a wonderful Christian wife.” … We don’t ask a lot here in America of our representatives, but last month Politico ran a story on the midterms titled “Good election year for the bad boys of Congress” which detailed how even scandal plagued low lives are none the less cruising to reelection. …
This guy ran on being a family values Christian. No wonder when this story broke he quit. Who could recover from hypocrisy that blatant. But now he is back in. Because he remembered something. Oh yea, I live in America. No one is paying attention. Same thing with the Appalachian Trails’ most famous hiker, former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), another born again booty caller, who left office in disgrace but who is back because he realized that in Kardashian America name recognition is all that matters.
Michael Grimm (R-NY) leads in the polls in his Staten Island district despite being under indictment for twenty counts of fraud. That’s a lot of fraud even for Staten Island. …
And then there is my favorite, Tennessee Scott Desjarlais (R-TN), a pro-life champion who encourages his ex-wife to have two abortions and talked one of his mistresses to having another. One more and he gets a free latte. … And he is a doctor who also had affairs with at least two of his patients. … And still he is looking forward to a third term. …
We need a new definition of insanity. And it is having a Congress with an eight percent approval rating and reelecting just about all of them. Only fourteen percent of voters say Congress has done anything to improve their lives. And yet reporters keep finding people who voted against Obamacare but are on Obamacare and love it. … And why wouldn’t they. Why wouldn’t they love it. They can finally breath easy that a serious health problem won’t bankrupt and/or kill them. You think that would be the kind of thing people might want to reward with their vote. But you ask them, would you consider voting Democrat? ‘Shit no. I am sticking with the pro-life doctor who impregnates lots of people who aren’t his wife. Top that Obamacare.’
While it is true that money corrupts our political process, it is also true that Americans must change.That the four guys listed above are leading their races speaks more poorly about the citizens than the lobbyists. It would seem that the dysfunction in Congress, the dysfunction of the elected is but a reflection of the dysfunction of the electors. Change starts by changing that person looking back at us in the mirror.