More Republican Corruption

No doubt this won't go down in the annals of the Bush administration as a major scandal, but Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt's sketchy family foundation that has allowed him to take over $1 million in tax breaks over the past 4 years is typical of the behavior this administration not only tolerates but encourages.

Both Republicans (Charles Grassley at least) and Democrats are denouncing Leavitt, though it seems highly unlikely that the Bush administration cares.

Both Republicans in the administration and Congress have assumed that their power means they can enrich themselves, their families, and their friends. Whether it's Enron, Duke Cunningham, Halliburton, Jack Abramoff, or Mike Leavitt, Republicans have shown that they do not care about fiscal honesty.

We shouldn't be surprised. Nearly every time in American history that Republicans have entered a period of ascendancy, they have followed with intense corruption. Both the Gilded Age and the 1920s, probably the 2 periods between the Civil War and 1994 when the Republicans have been most powerful, they have tarnished their own legacy with extreme corruption. Now they are doing it again.

I guess it's just a matter of whether Americans care about this or not. We'll find out in the fall.