Archived Opinion

Moral decay in U.S. is abominable

Moral decay in U.S. is abominable

To the Editor:

Most Americans who care about their country and who vote faithfully want desperately to believe that the candidates for whom they cast their vote will not only win but are honest and principled and will represent the time-honored values most of us were brought up to believe in. Have I been sorely misinformed about that, or am I just hopelessly naive?

The New York Times reported in September (this year) that stock-trading conflicts were rampant in Congress (that’s a shocker there). The Times exposed that — from 2019-2021 — 97 sitting senators and House members reported more than 3,700 trades by themselves or their family members in financial assets related to their committee assignments. Keep in mind, this was what was reported; how many transactions went unreported only God knows.

Congress has debated, for decades, tightening the rules for lawmaker investing. Let us pause while you pick yourself up off the floor from laughing and give you time to pour yourself another stiff one.

The New York Times highlighted several ethically (shall we say) dubious moves. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) traded contracts tied to cattle prices while his committee investigated cattle markets. Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) bought shares in a pharmaceutical firm while his committee investigated that firm’s high drug prices. The wife of Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-California) sold Boeing shares a day before his committee released damaging findings about the company’s two fatal crashes.

These rather questionable activities inside the United States Congress do manage to slip into the headlines from time to time. There are approximately 540 members of Congress at any given time so 97 would be, what, about 18 percent, and again, these are only the ones we know about.

This violation of what my generation regarded as principled ethical practices is likely (given the present-day political setting) not very high on any voter’s list of things to worry about. However, it is one of those pesky, persistent little items that stubbornly crawls across the pathway obstructing sound governance every now and again and causing those who are sworn to represent the people to forget why they’re there and who sent them.

Aside from the fact that congressional members are using their positions to acquire wealth, something else should disturb us even more. Men and women like Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ohio), and Rusty Bowers (R-Arizona), presently Speaker of the House in Arizona, are ostracized by their own party, beaten deliberately in their primaries and receive death threats, not because of wrongdoing but because they had the courage to stand tall and tell the truth, because they refused to grovel to a liar, conman and president who incited a deadly armed attack on his own Capitol.

These men and women were chastised for doing the right thing whereas those who violate ethical laws of the United States Congress, and their oath, go their merry way, unscathed. The moral decay of this once great nation is abominable and needs to be addressed.

David L. Snell  

Franklin

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3 comments

  • Lol, funny because its clear that David Snell is of no higher moral grade then the people he is complaining about. When was USA a “great nation” by the way? Was it when ot was trading slaves? Genociding the indians? Raping the Vietnamese? Burning alive people of Dreden or Hiroshima? Or was it Korea? Maybe America was great when it bombed center of europe in 21century (Yugoslavia? Remember that country you destroyed? How about Iraq? What about afghanistan? ) i think USA was always a psycotic piece of shit country filled with mostly piece of shit people like David Snell.

    posted by TheRealAmerican

    Sunday, 11/20/2022

  • Why does this "venerable" newspaper keep printing the ramblings of this twisted Leftist David L. Snell?

    posted by Lucille Josephs

    Friday, 10/07/2022

  • None of the three people you named are anything like honest. They supported the denigration of the country, and their own party. None of them is worth the time of day. If they were beaten primaries, they get part of what elections are all about. Cheney was rejected by the people she claimed she represented, but betrayed instead. Kinzinger gave his trust to the left, and they repaid him by making sure he was not re-elected. Last I heard, Bowers was a serious problem in AZ, and if he is turned out of office that is simply how elections work. Whining about it doesn't affirm anything the author said. It simply shows the author is a child emotionally.

    posted by Quartermaster

    Friday, 10/07/2022

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