Posted on 06/21/2002 12:36:10 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
The General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency, was asked by Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., last year to determine if officials and staffers from the outgoing Clinton-Gore regime defaced the people's White House before newly elected President George W. Bush and his staff took over.
The investigation took awhile – nothing on the federal level is done quickly, except when it comes to spending your money – but the GAO finally posted its report in mid-June.
The conclusion? The Clinton-Gore regime is guilty as charged.
After vehement denials by the Clinton-Gore regime coupled with charges that the incoming Bush administration was only trying to, er, trash them, the GAO found that outgoing personnel did indeed inflict about $20,000 worth of damage to property bought, paid for and owned by the American taxpayer.
According to the agency, "missing and damaged property included 62 keyboards, 26 cell phones, two cameras, 10 antique doorknobs, five to 10 presidential medallions, and a number of office signs," Fox News reported.
No big deal, right? Wrong.
No one doubts that there are a lot of problems with the federal government as a whole. And true, the GAO findings may appear trivial on the surface, especially when compared to these other problems.
But the very fact that this destruction was wrought in the first place proves what millions of Americans have suspected about Washington and the people who inhabit its halls of power for some time – that garbage floats to the top of the sea of humanity, and there's a lot of it in our nation's capital.
The price tag for this destruction – 20 grand, plus the cost of the GAO investigation – is nothing compared to the $2 trillion for which Washington bilks citizens annually. But it is something in terms of what is right and what is wrong.
Also, the incident is telling of the kind of attitude held by many who were privileged enough to have been given the opportunity to serve this great nation.
Imagine, for a moment, if John Q. Citizen, perhaps on a White House tour, tried to steal antique doorknobs, deface a number of White House computers, rip signs off walls or destroy presidential emblems. If it's "no big deal" for people whom we trust will take care of the people's White House to destroy it, why is it against the law for a regular citizen? That's easy – because it is illegal behavior to wantonly destroy someone else's property.
Besides, after Sept. 11, if John Q. Citizen attempted to destroy or deface the White House, he'd likely not only be arrested but probably charged with being a terrorist as well.
What is more telling is that these people are supposedly the cream of the crop – the leaders, the best of the best. How pathetic and ironic for them to behave like the lowest form of life.
On the other hand, what should Americans expect? We have increasingly tolerated and even rewarded bad behavior in every other aspect of our society – why not politics as well?
There are no barbarians at the gate over this incident – indeed, it barely created a ripple in the media. So what's to stop the next set of losers, idiots and mental midgets from destroying the White House the next time?
Over a number of years, Americans have created an environment where it takes exactly the wrong kind of personality to even run for office, much less aspire to hold it. That makes it easy to understand why lousy behavior abounds among the protected class and why the bar of acceptable behavior is continually dumbed down – obviously you don't get to be a career government parasite by having scruples.
In a nation of nearly 280 million people, we have to seriously ask ourselves: Is this the best we've got? If so, we're doomed.
Meanwhile, the garbage in Washington continues to pile up.
Regards
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