Personal Responsibility

I have waited for a while to comment on the Mark Foley issue for two reasons. First I wanted to get as many of the facts as possible. And second I wanted to give him the chance to take personal responsibility for his actions. His behavior is inexcusable, and indicates deep psychological issues. His mistakes have come to light and it is up to him to do the right thing by acknowledging that his actions were wrong, fixing any damage done to the pages, to himself, and to his family. And he should appologize to his constituents as well as the rest of the American people for decieving them about what kind of person he is.

He should not engage in any hiding, give excuses, or finger pointing. He brought this on himself and now he has to deal with the consequences.

How is he doing? Well he checked himself in to rehab for boozing, not sure where that came from. And now he claims, through a spokesperson, that he was molested by a Catholic priest when he was a boy. That's too bad, he's had how many years since then to fix the problems stemming from those episodes? A Catholic priest did not have internet sex with young boys, Mark Foley did.

He has rightfully resigned his seat in congress. Why is this right? Well he claimed to be a man of certain principles and people voted for him based on his embodyment of said principles. Now we know that he was a different man than he claimed to be and so he has resigned after betraying the public trust. Let me be clear on this, as of yet it does not appear that he has broken any laws, so this is not a legal scandal. It is a moral one. People who agree that sex should be between a man and a woman who are over 18 years of age voted for him. His deceit of them, and his fellow members of congress are the reason he is disgraced right now.

If I were a Republican senator I would be disgusted and angry. They should hold him accountable and take steps to see that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. I don't know what those steps would entail, but something obviously needs to be done.

And no the Democrats don't get to say anything about it since the things he has done do not qualify as sins in their eyes. In fact they would probably rush to his defense and even campaign for him if he decided to run again. I'm sure they will say tons more and try to smear every Republican running for office using this scandal. And they are welcome to keep pointing at the spec in our eye. Of course it might be that they waited until just the right moment to focus everyone's attention on that spec, which is unconcionable and that hypocrisy would rise almost to the level of Foley's, but not quite. I will talk more about this in later posts.

But for now I just wanted to express my outrage at his behavior, his deception, and I want to call on him to do the right thing. In a world where everyone is a victim I hold personal responsibility in high regard. And as an American, a Republican, a Conservative, and a Christian I demand that from myself as well as my elected representatives. So lets see it.

Linked to Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, and Outside The Beltway

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