Vitter in the Cannibal’s Stewpot
Republicans, especially conservative Republicans, have turned into incestuous cannibals over the last few years. We eat our own. It’s time to stop.
Senator Vitter consorted with prostitutes about six years ago. He is, to all reports, a most satisfactory Senator and conservative Republican. I am not at all certain that his mistake deserves the political death penalty. He has gone about the people’s business in those six years.
Corruption, selling favors, taking bribes, those are crimes for which no forgiveness can be given by a taxpayer and a voter. Politicians are our employees, and stealing from your employer is always grounds for immediate dismissal. Bye, bye Duke Cunningham.
Acts that call into question a politician’s judgment, such as writing dirty e-mails to former pages, calls for a serious examination of that politician. As an employer, you may not want a politician working for you who cannot reason clearly. Mark Foley, you just don’t deserve to be employed by me.
David Vitter is one of the second type of politicos described above. But he is no Mark Foley, not so far. His poor judgment was six years ago. No evidence has appeared to suggest that he has an on-going problem with this subject. Foley couldn’t stop being stupid. Vitter seems to have stopped.
As conservative Republicans, we need to take a step back from the edge here and recognize that our self-righteousness is hurting us far more than it is helping. Sad as it it to say, we have given the leftist nutroots their model for dealing with politics. I remember the frothing at the mouths that Bill Clinton provoked. That insane behavior produced Howard Dean, the attacks on Joe Lieberman, and Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Did Tom DeLay deserve what he got? Newt Gingrich was attacked and driven from office. Why? Is the purist version of social conservatism our standard now?
One of the reasons the Libertarians will never, ever gain any momentum as a movement or a party is their overwhelming inability to quit arguing about which among them is the truest libertarian. The Republican Party is rapidly being reduced to that level. You must remember that Trotsky was as pure a Communist as you might find and he died in exile with an ice pick in his brain. The Cultural Revolution set China back two decades at least in its quest for purity.
No man, no woman can become fully adult without making mistakes, without using poor judgment. As conservative Republicans, if we cast out all who are less than pure, soon there will be no one left. And we will never, ever attract candidates that will advance the causes of individual liberty and economic freedom because we will have ceased to practice what we once preached.
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