Watching From the Sidelines

Haven't posted in awhile. Been a little busy with being a Scout leader, a dad, work, etc. etc. I've also been a little distracted by something I usually don't pay much attention to - College Football. See, out here in corn country we have this little college called Northern Illinois University. And NIU has this little tailback named Garrett Wolfe. If you haven't heard of him, you will. A couple of weeks ago my youngest son and I had a Scout outing to watch a game and camp at the University. What a treat to watch this talented young man run around, through and over Buffalo defenders. I have never been into football to this extent, but now I find myself reading the sports pages before I read the front page and the editorial page. I spend more time following Wolfe's chances for the Heisman than reading blogs.

You can check him out (including articles and highlight video) here.

As I said, I have enjoyed watching all this from the sidelines. Now it seems I will be watching the remainder of this election season from the sidelines as well. With the revelation of the Mark Foley scandal I have very disturbing doubts about people I once respected, including my own Congressman, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

From all appearances it seems as if Foley's actions were known by Republican leaders and kept under wraps. One public reason for that is respect for the privacy and wishes of the parents. But their secrecy kept a predator in a position to victimize more young men. As for the defenders talking about legal technicalities, such as the age of consent in Foley's home state of Florida, that dog just won't hunt. I have never considered the law to be the definer of what is right and wrong. The law is merely a minimum standard, we should hold ourselves to something higher.

Foley should have been run out long ago. However, it also seems the Democrats knew of this and held onto the news so that it could be trotted out just before the election at a time that Democrats were slumping in the polls. Not to mention the way Democrats are feigning disgust and shock at this when they recently gave members of their own party a pass on occasions when actual sex with minors took place. I speak primarily of Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts who continued to serve after it was revealed that he did much more than exchange revolting e-mails to a male page.

Then there is Barney Frank using his position to fix parking tickets for his male lover who was using the Congressman's apartment to run a gay prostitution ring. Frank still serves as a respected member of the Democratic party.

President Clinton commuted the sentence of Democrat Mel Reynolds who had sex with a sixteen year old volunteer for his campaign then pressured her to lie about it.

You can read more in a great editorial over at Yahoo News

So, I hold both parties accountable for this. Neither has shown themselves worthy of my trust. I am one of those values voters that were so much in the news a few years back, and I take those values very seriously. My primary concern is not which party holds power, but which politicians reflect sincerity in upholding the values that make this nation great. Right now, they are in very short supply. This isn't just a political horse race, this is our leaders showing us they care more about public opinion and politics than about decency and integrity.

So, unless something dramatic changes, I will likely sit this election out. Does that mean there is a chance that Republicans will lose the majority and Democrats gain it? Yep. Does that mean Denny Hastert could lose to John Laesch who is acting every bit the political opportunist as his Democratic leaders? Yep. Laesch is a moonbat, but Hastert is beginning to look very dishonest. I prefer to vote for someone rather than against someone, and I don't like lesser of two evil choices.

The simple fact is that from the Democrats I expect nothing better. I am not disappointed in the way they have handled this, it is par for the course. From people who want my vote, I expect much better; morally and politically. The way they have handled this was not just wrong, but stupid.

With so much else going on that is so important, especially during a time of war, the Republicans chose to overlook repugnance in their own midst and try to keep it secret. Hopefully they will learn their lesson. But for now, I will be staying home this November as there really is no race: local, state or national that I feel compelled to vote in. I was already planning to abstain in our state's governor race and now I can't vote for Speaker Hastert.

I will instead follow the Heisman voting, where of course I don't have a vote. Go Garrett and Go Huskies!