“The Republicans have been stealing from the troops”

Mark Kleiman calls attention to this post by Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings, about GOP congressman John Doolittle's nepotism arrangements for his wife to profit from defense contractor campaign donations. Mark sums it up: "The Republicans have been stealing from the troops. " Hilzoy recounts the details of John and Julie Doolittle's cute little bribe detour through her (their) private laundry campaign consultant firm. Then he makes this very important observation: One last point. The people who bribed Duke Cunningham, Wilkes included, were defense contractors. They were paying bribes in order to get defense contracts, presumably contracts they would not have gotten in open competition. At a time when we have not managed to find enough body armor for our troops, or adequately armored vehicles for them to ride in, and when we are auditing everyone with PTSD and asking them to justify every cent of the money they get after having risked their lives for their country, these clowns thought it was appropriate to take bribes in order to induce the Defense Department to give money to contractors who would not have gotten contracts if they had had to play by the rules. It's shameful to bribe any government official in order to get contracts for substandard work. But it's doubly shameful when your bribes take money away from things like body armor, and deliver substandard defense work at a time when our troops' lives are on the line. After all, substandard defense work doesn't just mean that (for instance) a highway will need repairs a bit sooner than it might have otherwise; it means that some kid who is only trying to do his or her duty might get killed or maimed. It was once thought that people who did this should be tarred and feathered, or strung up and hanged. I myself don't believe in either of these punishments, for anyone. But I understand the sentiment.* If you live in California's 4th CD (east of Sacramento), do your best to get this guy out of office. We deserve better. --- It seems to me this is wholly consistent with the $100 million lost to fraud through the Coalition Provisional Authority, the multiple examples of war profiteering by Halliburton and Custer Battles. That several Republicans and their campaign contributor friends derive profit - enormous profit - from the sacrifice of young American lives is despicable in the extreme. But it is also not just a matter of some "bad apples" in an otherwise benign GOP orchard. THIS IS ALL FUNDAMENTAL TO REPUBLICAN IDEOLOGY!!! Republicans operate on the philosophical foundation built by the likes of Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay and John Doolittle and Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed, etc ad infinitum. In the identical way that the Katrina devastation was a direct result of calculated "small government" Republican policy, the profiteering on deaths of American soldiers and wartime military contracts is a direct function of how the Republican Party has purposefully structured the operations of government under their control. It is not an "unfortunate side effect" associated with a mere few corrupt individuals. It was PLANNED TO HAPPEN this way. They don't like having to be accountable, but this is exactly what they wanted to have happen. They purposefully arranged things this way. The Republican Party is arguably a criminal enterprise, which could theoretically be prosecuted by RICO laws. I hasten to say that is not to suggest every single GOP member of congress is guilty of some crime. There are many Republicans with whom I have angry disagreements, but I don't suspect them - nor is there any evidence to support allegations - of criminal offense. The point, rather, is that the underpinnings of GOP philosophy have served to guide the GOP members of congress - and their associates in the private sector - who are crooked. 'Cause it just ain't no coincidence that a whole lot of 'em are. And the ones who aren't crooks sure do helpfully shy away from any genuine investigations of criminal misconduct perpetrated by their GOP associates. The nexus for all the phone jamming electoral interference, voter fraud, money laundering, war profiteering, influence peddling, Abramoff/Wilkes/Wade-ism, the lies about Medicare and Social Security designed to reward big Pharma and Wall Street (and the threats and intimidation of would-be policy cost whistelblowers in relation thereto), the phony trumped up deceit to promote unnecessary war (and the coercion of information analysts to conform to a preconceived policy), the 4th Amendment violations of criminal law and the Constitution (and bald assertions of unaccountable legal authority), and the traitorous revealing of a secret agent's identity for cynical partisan purpose - in concert with false allegations of treason hurled against critics, and grants of presidential pardons to those indicted and convicted of criminal acts perpetrated in service to Republican administrations (Nixon, Weinberger, Abrams, et al) - is centered directly in the Republican Party's ideological goals for government - how to gain control and exploit the prerogatives of power, while conveniently granting Republicans an exemption from the laws to which they demand everyone else must be subject. Gross unconscionable overstatement and irresponsible hyperbole? Well, how many crimes does it take, perpetrated by members of one single organization, all operating with its authority and on its behalf, before that organization itself may be identified as the genesis of the criminality?