This week, for the first time in a long time, I actually enjoyed following the general news cycle in the US. I’m not going to lie, I have long harbored a belief that electing a white collar criminal to the office of President of the United States was a very bad idea. It’s more than mere gloating that gave me a sense of satisfaction from the events unfolding this week, though. There is perhaps of a ray of light at the end of this very dark tunnel. A feeling of, dare I say it, hope.
My dad once told me that the difference in Republicans and Democrats was that Democrats stuck by their people, no matter how many or grievous their misdeeds. He said Republicans, on the other hand, had a moral center that enabled them to cast out their own, if that person had done wrong. As evidence, he cited the Watergate scandal and how the Republicans had abandoned Nixon when it became clear he had broken the law.
In short, my dad was obviously very mistaken in his faith that a political party will always do the right thing. In the last few years, we have seen the Republican party excuse more inappropriate and criminal behavior than had been previously fathomable. This period certainly represents a new low in American history and will taint those groups who aided and abetted it for a long time. It’s perfectly reasonable to believe it could be generations before those parties involved can claim any sort of moral high ground.
It didn’t take someone with special powers of prognostication or foresight to predict these most recent events. As many, many people recognized, the legal woes that plague the president and his cabal are the most likely outcome of all that has transpired these past few tumultuous years. The quicker these matter are resolved, though, and this ugly and divisive chapter of US history is finished, the better it will be for our county.
