Tom Watson

Why the Scandals Matter

The liberal blogosphere is having itself a terrific time, and who can blame 'em? Karl Rove back before the grand jury. Bill Frist subpoenaed in a probe of possible insider trading. Tom DeLay under twin indictments for illegal contributions. Payback is sweet, the Democrats must privately agree, and when the nectar of political retribution flows - well, it's time to belly up to the juice bar.

But it's such a simple, fleeting pleasure, really. Beyond seeing political enemies reduced, what good do these myriad cases bring? For the true progressive, is this victory or just a cheap political reality show payback moment? Is it really good for the country to see the Bush Administration and the Republican Party reduced to laughingstocks, derided as corrupt crony-mongers, limping along to history's scrap heap?

My answer is this: yes, it is good for the country.

It's good because along with the corruption charges comes the realization that the so-called purity of the conservative movement was just a mirage, the product of over-funded, lazy think tank conservatives who mass-produced small government, originalist Kool-Aid to a thirsty media and a badly-informed electorate. When it came to power through "revolution," the conservative dogma melted away in the pursuit of power and riches; cheering Democrats, I hope, understand this because it's happened to them.

Rove and Libby, and Frist and DeLay, and all the rest were the architects of the faux convergence of Republicanism and hard-core conservatism; once in power, they spent with the best of 'em and used their "social agenda" for votes and little else. These scandals erase any last semblance of the "revolution" - whether it was the Contract with Amerca or Reagan's Revolution - and remind us all that democratic government is a fragile thing, too often entrusted lightly to sloganeers.

And then there's this: what is our agenda, now that the field is being laid clear?

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Posted at 11:30 AM, Oct 14, 2005 in Progressive Agenda
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