Friday October 28, 2005

A little faith in the system

It's been a little while since I wrote anything overtly political on this here blog. Election's over, and I've accepted that fact that no amount of writing long spiels on my website is going to make the current administration magically start being honest with people. I guess you can say I started to experience a bout of learned helplessness. And I was getting a little weary of being labelled nasty things for expecting better from our elected officials.

When I was a kid I didn't understand the nature of politics in America. I respected political leaders because they were political leaders, and assumed they were in their offices because they truly wanted to make America better. I was more than just a little naive. I was stupid. Just plain stupid.

All of that changed some years ago when I became more aware of backdoor deals and rigged elections. Disillusioned by lie after lie, I lost all the faith I had in government. And the last year in particular hasn't done much to change this... especially after my worth as a human being has frequently been called into question because I don't agree with the President.

As cynical as I am, though, today I can't help but feel that maybe I was wrong on a few of the details... that my distrust of the hustlers in office may be warranted, but that I should have at least a little faith in "the system." Lewis Libby may be only one person in a sea of charlatans and con men, but his indictment today prompted me to reconsider some of my antipathy. A comment on a satirical liberal blog summed up my feelings pretty well:

...it was, at long last and undeniably, a small resurgence of pride in my country. YES, I thought; YES, THIS is the America I remember. [Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald] spoke of the crimes that have been committed by those in control as, well, CRIMES against our country. OUR country, not the personal, decimated playground of corruption that the current cabal seems to think it is. The Constitution. The First Amendment. A government where even the most powerful shitbag is no match for the system, when it works, when it is in the hands of people such as Fitzgerald. Rove's (and, hopefully, others') come-uppance may still be a dream deferred, but for today, at long last, I felt good about living here again.

It's good to feel good about your country.