We are a nation of hypocrites.
Loud-mouthed, porn-obsessed, moralizing, self-abdicating, finger-pointing hypocrites.
There, I said it.
You don’t know me. I’m not a famous TV pundit. I’m not a celebrated journalist. No one has elected me to office.
But I’m a voter. I live in New York but was born and raised in Kansas, so have seen both sides of the political spectrum. I’m a Democrat who was once a Republican. I’ve worked on political campaigns for candidates that I hoped would make the world a better place. I’ve served my President during the Clinton years in Washington, DC. I’ve volunteered my time for the past ten years to try to persuade the media to cover U.S. hunger and poverty.
And finally, my long-percolating disgust has bubbled all the way up to leave a bitter taste in my mouth and I’ve decided I have to speak up.
The other day, I read in The New York Times that Representative Allyson Schwartz, a Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania, put out a statement that read: “Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress.” She continued, “In light of Anthony Weiner’s offensive behavior online, he should resign.”
Well, she got her way. Anthony Weiner is set to resign today.
I will overlook the obvious fact that Congress scores dead last in national rankings of respect and confidence – even below HMOs – so the first part of her statement is moot and, while true, seemingly unattainable these days. And I understand that Rep. Schwartz, who has been tasked with recruiting potential candidates for 2012, feels some responsibility to win back the House for the Democrats. But, unlike a few hundred thousand residents of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, she lives in Pennsylvania and is not Congressman Weiner’s constituent. Nor are any of the others in Congress who joined her calls for resignation.
Let me just point out that I think that Anthony Weiner’s behavior was not only stupid, but just plain sad. His lying and prevaricating, while painfully understandable, already cost him his dignity and his job. The truth is, if he were my husband, visions of Lorena Bobbitt would be bobbing through my thoughts. I’m not the woman who says, “he’s just a man…what do you expect?” For the record, I expect men to zip it up and behave with honor and decency – and when caught, I expect them to come clean.
But to my mind, Anthony Weiner has done something far more detrimental than wreck his career and possibly his marriage. He has stuffed a sock (grey boxer briefs?) into his mouth, one of the few Congressional mouths, if any – Democrats included – that consistently speaks up on behalf of poor and working-class Americans.
Even before the scandal, you could hardly turn on a TV news channel without finding Anthony Weiner talking about health care or jobs or a myriad of other issues affecting the most vulnerable in American society. He was a regular presence, not only on left-leaning MSNBC, but also Fox News and CNN. Poverty advocates could count on Anthony Weiner to talk about the millions of New Yorkers who are forced to use soup kitchens or food pantries every year, although the media tended to ignore him when he talked about poverty-related, rather than middle-class-related issues.
He was one of the few voices in the Congress who was unafraid of breaking with the leadership and the Obama Administration to point out when they weren’t going far enough on health care reform or other economic issues. He blasted the Republican plan to end Medicare (and yes, it is a plan to end Medicare). He fought for all of us – not just the privileged few, many of whom sit in the seats of power in Washington. While he was, as the Times has repeatedly pointed out in recent days, “…aggressive, blunt, feisty, and willing to push boundaries with an apparent disregard for the possible consequences,” he was also angry, as most voters are, and he fought the status quo every step of the way. But burning bridges in politics – especially with bombast and, more importantly, media coverage – doesn’t make you any friends in Washington.
This leads me back to my larger point: We are a nation of hypocrites.
People seem surprised that few, if any, Democrats rushed to support Congressman Weiner as his shocking admissions emerged. I’m not surprised. Our Congress is rife with hypocrites. Republicans and Democrats alike are roiled in scandals, sexual, financial, and ethical. Some are punished, some resign, and some continue to serve without reproach. The fact is that when it is political advantageous, Congressional offenders are pressured to resign. And conversely, when it is politically advantageous, others are “allowed” to keep their seats (a certain Republican “family values” Senator, who broke the law by visiting prostitutes, comes to mind). Sometimes illegal Congressional actions are considered “none of anyone’s business” – sometimes a slap on the wrist seems too violent to these now-squeamish politicians. Frequently bribed by campaign contributors to wreck the U.S economy to enrich those same donors, Congress is less disturbed these days by their actions screwing the American people financially, than they are by their members screwing people sexually, even electronically, and even if doing so is legal, as it appears to be in Anthony Weiner’s case. Hypocrites.
The media seemed to make resignation a foregone conclusion and they fill their airwaves with opinions couched as news, explicit photographs they sometimes purchased, and cries of outrage. Where were these news divisions when Anthony Weiner showed up at New York soup kitchens time after time to talk about food stamps cuts and hungry Americans? Where were they when the Democrats – yes, the Democrats – voted to cut food stamps for the first time since the current program was instituted in the 1970s? And why did they not cover President Obama signing a law slashing food stamps when just two years earlier, he signed a law dramatically increasing them? Where have all the news stories been about the proposed cuts to the program that provides healthy foods to low-income pregnant women and their young children? Oh and did I mention that we’ve had huge increases in domestic hunger during the past couple of years? I can tell you that more focus has been spent by the media on the sexual antics and meltdowns of Charlie Sheen and Anthony Weiner than on all those issues combined. Hypocrites.
And us, the voters. We are hypocrites too. Study after study shows that large percentages of men – married, single, young, old, buff, and flabby – view internet pornography. They often don’t even have to pay for it, as women frequently pose naked or in suggestive attire on their own free amateur websites. Infidelity abounds, no matter your political leanings. “Sexting” is a word familiar to most Americans – and not because of Anthony Weiner. I have watched prime-time sitcoms on the major networks that explicitly discuss masturbation, genitalia, orgasm, and that even hint at oral and anal sex. Americans of all stripes have watched Desperate Housewives, Jersey Shore, 16 & Pregnant, or Skins. Two and a Half Men was one of the most popular sitcoms on television. I finally started watching it after the Charlie Sheen scandal and was surprised that many of the story lines made fun of the main character’s drinking, cavorting with prostitutes, and sexual problems with women. Chuck Lorre was “offended” by real-life behavior that he was more than glad to exploit for the show. Hypocrites. (In fairness, since I am now riveted by the program, I am a hypocrite too.)
Congress has shown that they, like the American people, are confused about the definitions of morality, ethics, or responsibility (both private and public). We can be forgiving, but more often, we are a judgmental people. And many times, if we stand to benefit, we are content to judge and then forget, even if we don’t forgive. I voted for the latter in Anthony Weiner’s case. I say we should have let his wife and his constituents decide whether he deserves another chance to serve, not his colleagues. Abandon our hypocrisy and focus on issues that matter.
Representative Eric Cantor and others say that Congress cannot afford to be distracted by the Weiner scandal and that he must resign. If Congress is so easily distracted in a time of such persistent and severe economic hardships, international upheaval, and war, then perhaps they should all resign. Democrats would be better served in times of scandal by stiffening their spines and presenting their own, hopefully better, budget to counteract the disastrous one set out by the Republicans. They will only win back the House by showing they have their own concrete plans to improve the economy for all Americans – and not on the backs of the poor and working-class.
Rep. Schwartz only had it partly right: American voters don’t need to respect their politicians’ personal acts – they need to respect their policy acts. Both parties should finally begin to focus on what all Americans need and want and not use yet another Capitol Hill scandal as an excuse for why they aren’t doing what’s best for the country.