Ethics? We don't need no stinkin' ethics...

So my very own congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) have introduced a bill to replace the congressional ethics committee with an “Independent Ethics Commission” made up of 11 former Members of the House.

While I think this is a good idea, it doesn't really do anything about the root cause of the problem: legal bribery. While the "culture of corruption" so clearly on display of late in the Abramoff and Cunningham scandals highlight how easily a person can cross the line from legal to illegal bribery, the real problem is the pay-to-play system entrenched in our legislature. The "K Street Project" is the full realization of this system which took lobbying to a new level.

The point is that if you want legislation passed or an earmark inserted, all it takes is cash. You can donate to to the party, a committee, PAC or the politician in question and you've got a pretty good shot at it. It gets worse, though, because the system is self reinforcing. The legal part of the scam is that politicians use the money they get to fund their campaigns. The better funded the campaign, the more likely the victory - doubly so for aincumbentnt.

The cycle feeds itself and at some point the representatives are representing not their own local constituents, but the interests which pay the lobbyists. While I recognize the idealism in getting money out of politics, I really wish it would happen. A big part of the current mess that is the federal government is due to pay-for-play politics. Everything from the tax code to the budget to acts designed to specifically help a major industry (at the expense of the people) are the logical outcome of our current way of doing politics. Public financing of elections may have its problems, but I for one think it's a start. Of course, politicians COULD just refuse to play the game as it is currently constructed but their reelection fears cut off the blood flow to their ethics gland. I would like to remind them of what the prophet Isaiah said:

Isaiah 1: 23

Your rulers are rebels,
companions of thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow's case does not come before them.

Isaiah 33:14-16

14 The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
"Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"

15 He who walks righteously
and speaks what is right,
who rejects gain from extortion
and keeps his hand from accepting bribes,
who stops his ears against plots of murder
and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil-

16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
His bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail him.

Isaiah 10:1-2

1Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

2 to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.