Ex Post Facto

Welcome to the Conscientious Objector. I hope this can be a truly open forum--one beyond the normal right/left dichotomies present in political blogs. Not that I don't enjoy a little bomb throwing now and then, but I'd like this to be a different kind or discourse.

To begin: Foleygate, or Political Pragmatism in Lieu of Ethics.
It should come as no surprise that Speaker Hastert, or any of the Republican leaderships, for that matter, plausibly ignored the evidence that Congressman Foley was a sexual predator. Politics does not contain, at least in its current form (but perhaps throughout all politcal systems) any kind of moral imperitive. It is a purely pragmatic affair, insofar as it is an art of war. And although politicans can and do behave morally, it is only when it is their best interest to do so. That goes for Democrats as well as Republicans. Especially in electoral politics, we should remember that the accumulation of power, and the perpetuation of one's power, is what is truly at the forefront of the political. That's not to say, of course, that politicans do not act morally, or justly, or out of imperative. It's just that they won't--99 times out of a 100--do so when it threatens their own self-interest. Thus the deafening silence from the Republican leadership about who knew what when. But it is important for us to acknowledge this silence because it is where the heart of politics lies. And it is our civic duty, if such a thing exists anymore, to be vigilant of this silence even when the din of pragmatism drowns it out.