Spitzer and the Police State
Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, resigned today after admitting to being a client of a high-priced prostitution ring. This dramatic downfall is disappointing and, as painful as it is to see a Democratic star go down, his resignation is the right thing to do given the nature of the political environment we’re in. If this were Europe, say, he’d only go down if he were running the ring or having it operate out of the governor’s mansion. But this isn’t Europe. This is USA 2008, where sex outside of your marriage is more egregious than, say, starting a war under false pretenses and turning the nation’s intelligence on its people for your own political needs. You have to seriously wonder what Eliot Spitzer, a former attorney general and well immersed in the law, was thinking. Given what Bush and the Republicans have done to justice in this country—completely politicizing the process to the point where public servants serve the Republican party ahead of the public itself—he should’ve known better.
I’d venture that Spitzer was probably among the top 5 Democrats in the nation that were in office that had a target on his/her back, with the others being Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. Spitzer went after Wall Street and corporations, and I’m sure there’s uproarious schadenfreude occurring as I’m writing this at related institutions around the country. I’m sure that, to some degree, this will translate into negation of the work that Spitzer has done, meaning that his stance against corruption has now been rendered moot because he got busted buying the services of prostitutes, and judgments and laws will have to be reversed because they came from the immoral Spitzer.
I’m sure it will be considered tinfoil-hat conspiracy stuff to say that, with the assistance of corporations, a Republican-headed justice apparatus specifically targeted Spitzer, a Democrat, to destroy him. But with all the other “wild” conspiracy-theory type stuff that has emerged as truth—we were manipulated into war with Iraq, the government has been illegally spying on many Americans, U.S. attorneys were purged because they didn’t fall into lockstep with the Republican-led agenda, and the government has secretly used a vast network of rendition to torture suspected terrorists in locales worldwide—why would this be any surprise? Too many supposedly outrageous theories of this Republican-led government have come to be true that we can’t trust the system anymore. Our justice has become completely politicized. It was probably always politicized to some degree, but I think, in the end, justice more often than not prevailed (but not always, of course). Now, you’d be naïve if you didn’t think they were looking to destroy you if you were of a different political party or held a differing opinion on any pertinent subject. The White House and its minions have spent the last six or seven years constructing a police state in the name of fighting terrorism; if you think they were upstanding and could resist the temptation of turning it on the populace in general and more specifically its political opponents, then you’re a sucker of the saddest sort.
Spitzer was an idiot for getting busted like this. It could be addiction, human failings, power, or complete arrogance that blinded him, but he should’ve known he had a bull’s eye on his back and this type of thing would end his career (not to mention the legal alarms that would go off from moving around large sums of money). I don’t condone anything he did, and his resignation, in the long run, is the best thing probably for him, the state of New York, and for his political party at both the state and national levels.
I think it’s naïve, though, to say this was just a personally corrupt governor who got snagged in his own immorality and leave it at that. I say this is a shot across the bow for all domestic political opponents—the federal government, led by the White House and its allies, have been and will continue to watch you (that includes certain Democratic presidential candidates remaining in the race). Protecting all of us against terrorism and even the immorality of prostitution (do we even need such protection from that at the federal level? I’m sure conservatives say yes) is what they might be selling us, but it’s really about political advantage and maintaining power.
I’d venture that Spitzer was probably among the top 5 Democrats in the nation that were in office that had a target on his/her back, with the others being Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. Spitzer went after Wall Street and corporations, and I’m sure there’s uproarious schadenfreude occurring as I’m writing this at related institutions around the country. I’m sure that, to some degree, this will translate into negation of the work that Spitzer has done, meaning that his stance against corruption has now been rendered moot because he got busted buying the services of prostitutes, and judgments and laws will have to be reversed because they came from the immoral Spitzer.
I’m sure it will be considered tinfoil-hat conspiracy stuff to say that, with the assistance of corporations, a Republican-headed justice apparatus specifically targeted Spitzer, a Democrat, to destroy him. But with all the other “wild” conspiracy-theory type stuff that has emerged as truth—we were manipulated into war with Iraq, the government has been illegally spying on many Americans, U.S. attorneys were purged because they didn’t fall into lockstep with the Republican-led agenda, and the government has secretly used a vast network of rendition to torture suspected terrorists in locales worldwide—why would this be any surprise? Too many supposedly outrageous theories of this Republican-led government have come to be true that we can’t trust the system anymore. Our justice has become completely politicized. It was probably always politicized to some degree, but I think, in the end, justice more often than not prevailed (but not always, of course). Now, you’d be naïve if you didn’t think they were looking to destroy you if you were of a different political party or held a differing opinion on any pertinent subject. The White House and its minions have spent the last six or seven years constructing a police state in the name of fighting terrorism; if you think they were upstanding and could resist the temptation of turning it on the populace in general and more specifically its political opponents, then you’re a sucker of the saddest sort.
Spitzer was an idiot for getting busted like this. It could be addiction, human failings, power, or complete arrogance that blinded him, but he should’ve known he had a bull’s eye on his back and this type of thing would end his career (not to mention the legal alarms that would go off from moving around large sums of money). I don’t condone anything he did, and his resignation, in the long run, is the best thing probably for him, the state of New York, and for his political party at both the state and national levels.
I think it’s naïve, though, to say this was just a personally corrupt governor who got snagged in his own immorality and leave it at that. I say this is a shot across the bow for all domestic political opponents—the federal government, led by the White House and its allies, have been and will continue to watch you (that includes certain Democratic presidential candidates remaining in the race). Protecting all of us against terrorism and even the immorality of prostitution (do we even need such protection from that at the federal level? I’m sure conservatives say yes) is what they might be selling us, but it’s really about political advantage and maintaining power.
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