Nov 202017
 

Gentlemen, behold:

She Said That A Powerful Congressman Harassed Her. Here’s Why You Didn’t Hear Her Story.

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat and the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 with a former employee who alleged she was fired because she would not “succumb to [his] sexual advances.”

If people in government were held to the same standards as the rest of us… there’d be no people in government. Instead, it’s perfectly fine for a Senator to get likkered up, go driving and kill someone, then not only skip out on the whole “get arrested, tested, tried and imprisoned” thing, but then spend the next generation or two being consistently re-elected and determining the fate of the nation.

Accusations are just accusations… he said, she said, due process, etc. But in Conyers case, there was a settlement, so apparently there was some admission of guilt.

Infotainment and government both share the feature that the people in ’em end up with a whole lot of power, and it’s safe to assume that anyone who make a serious attempt to make a career in either is trying to accrue power. Conyers, for instance, has been in the House since NINETEEN FRICKEN SIXTY FIVE. His term in office is older than I am. Nobody spends that long in a position of power like this without being, or becoming, a power-mad monster.

More than some understanding of the awfulness of sexual harassment, I hope (beyond reason and rationality, I admit) that this current Outrage Theater will result in something like term limits for federal officeholders. If someone like John Conyers wants power over others, let him do it the honest way: form a damn cult.

 Posted by at 10:07 pm