The Al Capone paradox

The Moonie paper is calling on Dennis Hastert to resign as speaker of the house for his major role in the Mark Foley scandal. Since politics trumps everything else with this crowd, the Moon children talk about how it shouldn’t be viewed as “a Republican scandal,” and accuse the Democrats of contributing “more than their share of characters in the tawdry history of congressional sexual scandals.” I guess that’s a reference to Bill Clinton — as if a sexual affair between two consenting adults can be equated with a predatory congressman trolling for sex with teenaged boys under his authority and care.

The way I see it, this is very much a Republican scandal. It is a natural byproduct of their swaggering abuse of power, their insistence on secrecy and control, and their cultlike emphasis on party loyalty above all things. When presented with evidence of the Florida congressman’s predatory nature, Hastert’s first instinct was to cover it up; when confronted with knowledge of his own malfeasance, Hastert’s first instinct was to lie and raise a dust cloud of political spin. Both are hallmarks of the breed of Republicans spawned by the Gingrich revolution of the 1990s. Oh boy, is this ever a Republican scandal, and it threatens to cost the party its support with those “values voters” it relies on to keep the keys of power within its grasp.

There are so many reasons these Republicans deserve to lose and lose big in the next few election cycles. I’m not saying the Democrats were as pure as the driven snow, but once they took control of Congress and later the White House, the Republicans raced to achieve a level of corruption and hypocrisy within only a few years that exceeded the level of corruption it took the Democrats whole decades to attain. With its penchant for two-fisted looting, its contemptible pandering to the worst impulses of our citizens and its willingness to throw anything good about America — the military, civil rights, the war on terror, social programs, education, scientific leadership — over the side in order to gain political advantage, this brand of Republicanism is a new kind of menace to America’s future.

For a party that has abused its power so comprehensively to face an eviction from power over a nasty sex scandal may seem inappropriate. Personally, I’d rather see the GOP punished for aiding and abetting the lies that mired our soldiers in Iraq, and the blind support for an incompetent president whose bungling has increased the worldwide threat of terrorism.

But think of the paradox of how Al Capone was finally brought down. After years of violence and gangsterism, Al Capone was finally done in by tax-evasion charges. If the charge of covering up for a sexual predator is what it takes to depose this rabble of crooks and clowns, I’ll roll with it. I just want them the hell out, as quickly as possible.