Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?

What is it with our politicians? Here in the New York area, we've seen not one but three sitting governors resign due to scandal since 2004. Rowland in Connecticut did time, then there was McGreevey in Jersey, and now Spitzer in New York. Will it ever end?

Probably not. Did we forget to mention Sharpe James in Newark, Kwame Kilpatrick in Detroit, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Duke Cunningham? Even McGreevey is now back in the news with a former aide alleging three way sex romps with the "gay American" and his wife.

So what are the American people to do? What we normally do is sit back and grumble. "They're all crooks!", we say, as if we have no part in enabling them. How? By re-electing them with frightening regularity. Incumbent politicians usually have little to fear from their constituents. If they're in Washington, they can come home during one of their all too frequent vacations and do a few photo ops. If they happen to be running for re-election, the visits are more frequent. If they're local and statewide, shaking  few hands and kissing a few babies often is their ticket to another term in office.

That, and the massive fund raising it takes to run just about any campaign for an office above the rank of dog catcher. Our inattention has created a political class that in turn rarely has to pay attention to us. It's come full circle.

It may be naive, but maybe if our politicians thought they had more to fear from us, they'd be less likely to get themselves embroiled in scandal, sexual or otherwise. If only the passion Barack Obama has brought to the process would trickle down to other races for lesser offices.

If only.