Partisan

Even now, as I start to type, I realize that I’ve inappropriately titled this entry. It should have been called “In Defense of Boys.”I’m not going to change it. I’m just going to stubbornly plow ahead.At least one boy has been harmed.He was 16 when the harm happened.It came at the hands of an elected official.Somehow, this is an issue of Republicans vs. Democrats.Why?Mark Foley isn’t a despicable man because he’s a Republican. Mark Foley is a despicable man because he is a predator who practiced his trade while supposedly serving the public interest.Unfortunately, the agreed upon news story hasn’t unfolded in any sort of sympathetic dialogue about a boy being harmed. It hasn’t even tackled the concern we should all feel that the entire Congress apparently knew that a predator was in their midst and did nothing, even as they were approving applications from boys in their home States to leave their mothers and fathers for a summer opportunity to be a Congressional Page and learn about government from an up close and personal perspective.No, the story of the week is the Republicans vs. the Democrats.This was also the story last weekand the week before.There was no happy hour in American history where we all got along.But even in my lifetime, there was a time when a person’s identity wasn’t a political label.Perhaps this is just a Washington thing, and I think of it as global because I drive the Beltway to work sometimes.Maybe “blue state” and “red state” citizens don’t know that’s what we call them in D.C.Maybe they too are more concerned that the Republicans have a scandal on their hands than they are that a boy was harmed.We bemoan the violence between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq because it seems like such senseless mayhem.But we’ve divided ourselves into Democrats and Republicans and called each other nasty names and accused each other of terrible things while a predator was harming a boy.You and I are computer people. We "get" how internet communication works. We use yahoo messenger, we read and write blogs. We understand how very real and how very serious these relationships that are developed through broadband and cable hookups are, on every level. We've been told that the totality of the harassment was just a series of e-mails, instant messages, and inappropriate offers from one man to a small number of boys.But you and I, in the part of the conversation that we aren't going to have out loud--the part where I'll give you "the look" and you'll return it so we don't have to slander anybody, the part where we just "know," both know there's more to it. Or do I actually have to wink and fucking nod?If Mr. Foley was a teacher … preying on his students, do you think we’d care if he were a Democrat or Republican?Would the news story of the night be about the political discussion between the school board and the Superintendent?What if he were father molesting his son?Damn those Democrats?Fuckin’ Republicans?Somewhere between Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra, the Blowjob, the Contract with America, election night 2000, 9/11, The Iraq War, and Katrina we stopped being Americans who belonged to political parties and became political party members who happen to be Americans.A boy has been harmed.Are you a Republican? Or a Democrat?Oh yeah … its time to talk about the priests…

--Stew.

(5 Oct 06)