Saturday, January 14, 2006

Transparency in Government

I found this via Castle Argghhh, and I completely support it...

An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.
N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear


We voters can only force a better system by using the power of our votes. The power to vote *for* those who will ethically represent us in our government, and to vote *against* those who don't. We will always get the government we deserve if we don't follow this rule.

Would this mean voting against a republican in favor of a democrat? Yes, if that's what it takes. Neptunus Lex says it best:
We’re not looking for more of the same, and be very clear: We won’t come to the polls and vote for it. If the leadership of the Republican party can’t offer their voters something else than the same old sleaze, self-interest and scandal, we’ll leave the field to the other side and gladly let the party develop a new philosophy of ethics in government.

From the minority side of the aisle.

Because the Republic will survive a Democratic Party ascendancy. What it will not survive is the sense that all of it, the whole democratic experiment, is some great fraud foisted by whichever set of pigs can muscle itself most closely to the trough.

If you agree, visit N.Z. Bear's and sign on.