The Soul-less World of Politics

It seems as if politicians these days have no integrity, no soul. The political pandering to interest groups never gets old, and promises of government transparencies are being found hard to keep. Voters are regarded as fools for believing messages of change, while elected officials on both sides of the aisle keep posturing to do whatever they can to keep their seats in the Senate and the House.

One GOP senator jumps ship, citing ideological differences with the more conservative elements of the Republican Party. But in a state that is increasingly becoming more Democratic, was it just mere coincidence that Senator Arlen Specter switched affiliation to the Democratic Party with his re-election season coming up?

The man who said that we can, and promised a new wave of transparency in the government, has recently upset his friends to the left when he decided this week to prevent the release of photos from Abu Ghraib. What happened to transparency, Mr. President? Keeping electoral promises isn't so easy now, is it? And now today, the White House confirmed that the US would continue to employ former President Bush's controversial military commission to prosecute detainees in Gitmo. That sure does look like change to me. Yes, we can.

And then there is the first madam speaker of the House of Representative from California. Nancy Pelosi, the vocal critic of the Bush administration, finds herself in a bit of a sticky situation. The madam speaker is adored by those on the left for her outspoken objection to the use of torture during the Bush administration. I sincerely applaud her stance on that. But you see, Ms. Pelosi forgot to mention that in 2003, she, along with other House Intelligence Committee members, were briefed by the CIA on its interrogation methods during the war on terror. Today, she disputed CIA records that listed 40 briefs that the committee received from the intelligence agency in which members of the committee were allegedly told the use of waterboarding during interrogation. A record of 40 briefings in which she was told that the CIA was torturing detainees in 2003, and she waits until 2007 to formally decry the CIA's methods of interrogation. Does Ms. Pelosi really think we're idiotic enough to actually believe her?

So in conclusion, politics is a soul-less world, void of any meaningful convictions and integrity. Flip-flopping around is the norm, and doing anything politically expedient is to be expected. But hey, at least in America, people like me who publicly criticize officials expect to live after wielding such criticisms unlike in other countries. I have that to be thankful for, right?

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