Via John at the Castle, and I’m entirely on board:
We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.
We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.
But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.
As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.
We’re not looking for more of the same, and be very clear: We won’t come to the polls and vote for it. If the leadership of the Republican party can’t offer their voters something else than the same old sleaze, self-interest and scandal, we’ll leave the field to the other side and gladly let the party develop a new philosophy of ethics in government.
From the minority side of the aisle.
Because the Republic will survive a Democratic Party ascendancy. What it will not survive is the sense that all of it, the whole democratic experiment, is some great fraud foisted by whichever set of pigs can muscle itself most closely to the trough.
(nudging guy next to me in ribs)
“What he said!”
(turning to guy)
“He sure talks purty, don’t he?”
Guy responds: “Poke me again, dogface, and I’ll kick yer %@# off this ship.”
Stop the foolishness now
Link: An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers. We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership
Cap’n,
I can’t tell you how good it feels to hear others whom I respect start on the ‘More equal than others Business as Usual in the Capitol.’ I don’t think the Founding Fathers envisioned a government this bloated and full of itself.
The Republicans certainly can’t count on my vote if they don’t clean up their act.
Two.
Transparency in Government
I found this via Castle Argghhh, and I completely support it…
Most excellent statement, Lex – thanks for providing me with just the words I wanted