This just in: My political leanings have finally caused me to fall over. Story at 11.

A second post, since my girlfriend is out gallavanting and my bankroll wouldn't support poker tonight. On a totally different topic, for a change.

"As it turns out, Mr. Foley has had illicit sex with no one that we know of, and the whole thing turned out to be what some people are now saying was a -- sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages."

I found this quote about the Mark Foley/teenage boys/cybersex scandal on Salon today, from Dr. James Dobson, by way of Media Matters. I was repulsed, and feeling the need to argue about it with someone, I took the opportunity and forwarded it to my mom, who is always sure to come down on the side of the church.

She took her normal line, when one of these scandals targets someone to the left of her political leanings, and pointed out that it's atrocious that people are playing partisan politics, and that the media is clearly trying to paint Dr. Dobson in a bad light, by quoting him out of context. And in her defense, I agree, for the most part, though I'm constantly awestruck by how quickly that attitude changes when it's a Democrat who's done something untoward.

Also, to be fair to mom and the good doctor, Dobson has gone on the record vehemently condemning Foley for his actions. (Vehemently condemning people is one of the things Dr. Dobson does best, as a matter of fact.) Which brought both mom and I to the most disturbing facet of all this.

Dr. Dobson is a leader of men. Largely brainwashed, unthinking, close-minded men, but a leader nonetheless. He professes to be a man of principle, guided by his relgious beliefs and supposedly unbendable to the whim of anyone but God himself. He is most likely genuine when he calls Foley's behavior disgusting and wrong. And so much the worse, for this statement. Here is a man who's personal beliefs have taken a backseat to partisan politics. This is the state of our political system. A powerful and disturbed representative of the people has used his duly elected position to take sexual advantage of emotionally fragile children, and the people America looks to for guidance are either playing it off or playing it up for political gain.

I grew up going to church, and while I adamantly oppose fundamentalist religion, I respect people who have chosen to live their life by those arbitrary standards, so long as they demonstrably keep to those standards. Nowhere in my understanding of Christianity has the end ever justified the means. While it may be important to Dr. Dobson for myriad reasons that the conservative party maintains control of the government, it flies in the face of everything that he purportedly stands for to in any way use deliberate misinformation to mislead the public into underestimating the gravity of this situation.

I could argue, if I had to, that Congressman Foley's behavior should not cost the Republicans any votes. In a way, it fits my argument anyway. He is an individual, and should be held individually responsible. Obviously, his problems are not indicative in any way of Republicans as a group, in the same way that his predeliction for young men is not indicative of the preferences of homosexuals as a group. For the Democrats to use this abomination as a means to gain political capital is equally distasteful to me.

But then again...my own logic aside, I still believe this should cost the Republicans, and dearly. I believe it because I believe the Republican leadership played a part in deliberately covering this up. I believe it because I believe the hypocrisy they've shown in defending their own is telling in the lack of conviction and moral relativism it shows. I would believe the same thing if Foley was a Democrat and the shoe was on the other foot.

Our politicians, our religious leaders, our political activists, and our own opinions need more accountability. Are party lines really as firmly drawn across America as the politicians would have us believe? This kind of behavior is a direct result of Americans' inability to adhere to the basic tenets of democracy. The average voter doesn't choose a candidate because they believe that said candidate is the person whose strength of character and personal principles will guide them in doing what they believe is right. They vote for the person who appears to be most similar to themselves. Abortion, gun control, immigration, sex education--all of these "issues" inform the average voter--it's just wrong. America's government was designed to ensure that the people best-equipped to make difficult decisions were in the position to make them. People who wouldn't be influenced by the desire to retain their job at the next election, or to please the lobbyists who fund their "fact-finding" trips to the Carribean, or the constantly fluctuating opinion polls. This government is designed to be run by men and women with the strength of will to make what they truly believe is the right choice, regardless of personal consequence. Instead, our servants of the people serve only themselves, and crucial government issues are decided by $1200 lunches with lobbyists instead of personal deliberation.

Our political future is bleak. When a representative of the people can verbally assault their children and the first thing people talk about is the relative effect on the mid-term elections, I find it difficult to hope that things will change.