THE FACE OF CORRUPTION

It is not unusual for nations to face great tests from external enemies. It is not even that unusual for democracies to struggle against internal enemies who seek to gain control and power for their own parochial interests. And it does occur, sometimes, that that internal enemy is represented by our own elected officials. This is the situation we face today.

There is a creeping corruption overtaking the body politic of America. As the president has alluded to, we are being tested. What he appears to be blissfully unaware of however is that he and his administration are the test.

The recent "compromise" regarding torture of prisoners represents a dark day, one of many as of late, for freedom and democracy. The rights of "enemy combatants", are determined to be unimportant compared to the need for security. Yet it doesn't take a PhD in Political Science to realize that when the definiton of enemy combatant is left to the administrative branch (any adminsitrative branch democratic or republican)to determine, we are all in danger.

It is interesting how things play out here in America. Corruption has become a huge issue in this campaign with sex and money scandals taking the headlines. What often happens, and the current situation is no exception, is that there is some awareness of what the real issue is but we shine the flashlight elsewhere.

Corruption is an issue and those scandals need to be adressed, but they are far less important than the corruption of our democratic values that has tasken place under the Bush administration. That is too terrifying to look at and in all honesty, the Bush administration tactics have shown that perhaps we don't, as a nation, value our democracy or our rights so much. If we had, much of what has transpired in the last 6 years would not have occurred.

There will be consequences to the way we have let this administration shred the Constitution. But perhaps we will once again learn its value once we no longer have its protection. As Joni Mitchell said "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till its gone."