So at the moment, both major political parties are dealing with their own sexual misconduct scandals. The GOP's is Alabama Senator Roy Moore, who just over two weeks away from a special election in his home state, the winner of which fills a vacant United States Senate seat. Meanwhile, the Democrats are dealing with a growing number of allegations against Minnesota's comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken, as well as Michigan Representative John Conyers, who also happens to sit on the fairly important House Judiciary Committee. Or, he used to, anyway; on November 26th, Conyers stepped down from that committee as part of the investigation into the allegations against him.
Amazingly (to me, anyway; Congress' complete lack of morality still shocks me, despite everything I've seen), key leaders from both parties found ways to excuse their colleagues' misdeeds - probably while contemplating the overall agenda. On one side of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell contemplated the idea of urging Luther Strange (Alabama's temporarily appointed Senator) to resign, as a way of avoiding the state's upcoming special election. On the other side, Nancy Pelosi waffled and refused to mete out a harsher punishment than some stern language toward Conyers.
That's sad and disgraceful, especially by the Democrats. Franken and Conyers's disgusting actions are nowhere near as bad as Moore's vile pedophilia, but neither of the two Democrats appear to be squeaky clean either. Their punishments should be more severe, given the apparent patterns of misbehavior on both their parts. I've long since given up expecting even the slightest shred of decency from the GOP - why would I think a party that condones Trump's behavior, associates with Nazi sympathizers like Steve Bannon and Seb Gorka, and panders to the worst parts of society, like racists and science deniers? The GOP is a lost cause.
But the Democrats want to take back Congress next year, and the Presidency in 2020. A lot of Americans want them to, also. But why should the country vote them back in, if this is the standard for acceptable conduct they're setting? Now, some of the rank-and-file Congressmen have known Franken and Conyers for years. They've probably played together for Congressional softball games, or gone on "fact-finding" junkets together, or shot the breeze at weekend BBQs or after-work dinners at DC's finest restaurants. Pelosi is not a rank-and-file Democrat, though. She's in a leadership position, which means two things. First, she's not there to be anybody's friend; her job is to take responsibility for problems and fix them. Second, her colleagues and constituents look to her to set the standard for acceptable conduct, and she just told them all that bad behavior will still be acceptable, unless you really get out of control.
Unlike Kay Ivey, Pelosi is smart enough to not publicly state her reasons, but she's letting Conyers off with a light punishment for the same reason that the GOP won't abandon Moore: both parties consider keeping Congress full of their members crucially important. And yes, it is important. Trump and the GOP are pushing a lot of destructive policies: the tax plan, the ACA mandate repeal, judicial nominees. Given those things, isn't keeping Franken and Conyers in play a necessary evil?
No. NO. This is bigger than the GOP's horrible governance. Americans need elected officials to stop the GOP cold, but they (we) also need those same officials to start regaining our trust. Part of what made the 2016 election stand out was that a large portion of the electorate rejected the status quo. Voters sent a loud, powerful signal to Washington, and just over a year later, it doesn't seem like Washington got that message. If the Democrats would clean out their own house, it would be a sign that they're hearing us. The GOP legislation will hurt, but abandoning all sense of ethics to score a legislative win will hurt more in the long run, by further eroding Americans' trust in governmental institutions. This isn't war, and the stakes aren't so high that you need to collaborate with the devil like FDR did, in order to win.
The Democrats have a choice. They can cross any lines, abandon any morals, do whatever it takes to push back against the GOP, and probably gain some short-term victories. Or they can act with honor, integrity, and decency, and show the American public they are fit to govern. They can put the country ahead of a legislative "win" for their party. They can help make Americans proud of their elected officials again, instead of being embarrassed of the current pack of miscreants and dirtbags. That's worth more than a few legislative victories.
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