Absolute power corrupts absolutely

"All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." -Lord Acton


One of the hallmarks of the Bush administration is its refusal to listen to anything that goes against its preconceived notions. Another is its use of overt politicization and cronyism to ruin previously competent organizations.

The results of cronyism at the Federal Emergency Management Agency became apparent during Hurricane Katrina. It was reported that five of the top eight officials [going into Katrina] at FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had little experience in handling disasters and owed their jobs to their political ties to Bush..

It is unprecedented to appoint friends to high ranking positions? Of course not. But a smart president will make sure such appointees are surrounded by well-qualified deputies.

The administration also sabotaged the previously non-partisan Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The CPB was designed to be a shield for public broadcasting from political pressure. But former director Ken Tomlinson was a beacon of partisanship, hiring G.O.P. consultants as ludicrous bias-control monitors, notes a New York Times editorial. Ludicrous to the point that Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican and friend of the president, was absurdly labelled by Tomlinson's snoopers as 'anti-Bush.'

Furthermore, the monitoring activity concluded PBS (public television) liberal bias primarily on the basis of a single program, NOW with Bill Moyers, instead of looking at the totality of PBS' public affairs output. The same applied to National Public Radio and the Diane Rehm Show. Conveniently, alleged liberal bias in public broadcasting is something the far right has complained about for years. The monitors concluded exactly what they were paid to conclude. Pre-conceived notions were affirmed.

Even more ludicrous is that Tomlinson recruited as his successor, Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. So a woman who was named to lead what's supposed to be non-partisan corporation held a previous job whose SOLE PUPROSE is partisan activity. It would be as if a future Democratic president appointed Howard Dean to the same position.

Tomlinson was involved in the creation of a PBS show, the conservative Journal Editorial Report, in violation of the CPB's own guidelines. This, according to a report issued by the CPB's independent inspector general.

Now we find out another example of Republican corruption: "gerrymandering in Texas.

Bush Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan, reports The Washington Post.

The lawyers are civil service bureaucrats there on merit. Senior officials are political appointees of the administration of the day.

(Former GOP majority leader DeLay has since been indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges)

Gerrymandering isn't a uniquely GOP phenemon. Here in New York state, it's a bipartisan affair. Senate Republicans collude with Assembly Democrats to protect incumbent majority party legislators as much as possible. The difference is that they are clever enough to do it in a way that barely passes the legality test.

Though not particularly 'sexy,' I happen to think gerrymandering is a big issue. Legend has it that because of this manipulation, the New York state legislature has a higher incumbent re-election rate than the communist Chinese National Assembly. In the 2004 elections, four incumbent senators (there are 62 seats in the chamber) were defeated at the polls... and this was considered a revoution! Gerrymandering is the best way to minimize accountability for legislators and it must not be tolerated.

That's why each state should have an independent electoral redistricting commission, instead of having it done by partisan legislators who have a vested interest in preserving their jobs. To my knowledge, Iowa is the only state that has such a commission... and it has the highest proportion in the country of competitive Congressional races.

And a finally come these comments from Rep. John Murtha. The hawkish, pro-military Democrat made waves recently by calling for a speedy (not immediate) withdrawal from Iraq. But the more interesting remarks came yesterday. He claims that US commanders on the ground in Iraq support withdrawal but are afraid to make their position known to the president for fear they will be fired. It is more than plausible, in a Bush administration that equates disagreement with disloyalty.

Unfortunately, it's precisely the administration's refusal to consider unpleasant facts that led to the mess in Iraq in the first place.

Some critics of the president maliciously revel in calling him an idiot or stupid. I don't know what his IQ is and I really don't care. To belittle his intelligence is not only mean-spirited and reflects worse on the taunter than on the president, but it completely misses the point. The biggest character flaw of both the president and the vice-president isn't their intelligence; by all accounts, the vice-president is extremely smart and intelligence isn't an issue of character anyway. Their grossest character flaw is that they are closed-minded.

Everyone makes poor decisions, but closed-minded people make them more often and more grieviously because they won't listen to anyone else. And closed-minded people choose not to see their mistakes, or simply refuse to acknowledge that they make any. As a result, their mistakes are prolonged by their refusal to change course when cirumstances would logically dictate as much. Staying the course isn't courageous when it means beating your head against a stone wall a few hundred more times in the hopes that your head is so special and your will so strong that you can defy the laws of physics; it's simply stupid.