Tom DeLay is leaving the House, but says he intends to stay involved. He will continue to push religion in government, though I don't know what religion this vicious little man espouses. It certainly encompasses some strange values. Most religions I know do not include selling pollutants to farmers, robbing the poor to further enrich the wealthy, relinquishing national treasures to corporations, starving our national places of beauty of the finances needed to maintain them, reducing safeguards for water and air, burdening the generations to come with massive debt, or the many other causes he has championed.

Tom did show just how cheaply the loyalty and support of our politicians can be bought — he was a real cash cow. His sources had trouble providing the kind of money I expect candidates for Congress need, but once his cohorts were beholden to him, he earned his nickname — The Hammer — by tactics intimidating to anyone who tried to show some independence of thought. I don't doubt that he, like many zealous reformers before him, sought changes he thought necessary, but the arrogance of power soon overtook him, and his appetite for the good life was fed by the lobbyists he dealt with. His expanding girth displayed how well his appetite for food was nurtured, but the good life included more than food. He lived the jet set life to the hilt. He succumbed to the view that he was above the law, and came to believe that if he wanted to do it, it was probably a good idea. Overreaching was not unique to him, but it was definitely a part of his comeuppance.

DeLay's replacement, John Boehner, is a cosmetic change at best. The only hope is that in assuming Tom's role he will be less effective. After all, he doesn't have Tom's connections to lobbyist bank accounts. Besides, everyone is a little antsy about the current national prominence of Abramoff, and the scandal involving money for legislation may provide some of them with a little more backbone. Nothing, after all, exceeds like excess.

Posted by Wes Randolph   |   Tuesday, April 18, 2006