Depressing DeLay developments

If you have any hopes that Tom DeLay's cancerous effect on the body politic was excised by removing his tumorous presence from the Speaker's office, let go of them now. His influence has metastized throughout the Beltway to infect our governance so widely, that not even aggressive chemo would eradicate his lethal schemes.

He may have been demoted to less prestigious office space on the Hill, but his luxurious digs on K Street remain untouched and out of reach of official retribution. He could keep pulling the moral mafia's strings from a jail cell, just like any thug who holds power in organized crime. One nut falling off this political machine doesn't grind it to a halt as long as the payola continues to grease the gears.

Our pathetic excuse for a representative Republic has long been run from K Street but it used to be more balanced until the advent of the DeLay/Norquist run K Street Project. The Washington Post explains it more fully but the short version is, loyalty and deceit are rewarded; honesty and competence are punished. It's all about keeping the team in power and it's how a handful of lunatic fringe extremists came to hold this country hostage to their demands.

More disturbingly, the WaPo tells us that the Dems, having been virtually booted out of the corner offices of K Street have taken to emulating DeLay's dirty dealing within the House chambers in an effort to reconsolidate their power.

This is why I've lost faith in the two party system. Our representatives govern for their parties, not for the people. They spend more time raising campaign funds than they do raising the standard of living for ordinary Americans and our bureaucracy operates as administrators of a corporate welfare system rather than caretakers of the common good.