His Own Petard
Much could be said — and God knows, much will be said — about the sleazy behavior of Rep. Mark Foley of Florida toward Capitol Hill pages. Any tiny twinges of sympathy anyone might possibly feel for some lonely politician who couldn’t control his urge to have raunchy conversations online with teenagers should remember the bill Rep. Foley co-sponsored, H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, as described and linked to by Glenn Greenwald.
Foley’s case is worse than Clinton’s. I had some sympathy for President Clinton when he argued that no one should ever be prosecuted for what he was accused of, …. until it was brought out by his prosecutors that he had campaigned for changing the laws to allow testimony of the sort he objected to to be raised in such cases and that there were people in prison for lying under oath about sexual laisons who had been prosecuted by Clinton’s own department of justice. If it’s a law for me, it’s a law for thee, especially if thou art the one who hath sponsored the law.
Definition of the phrase, “hoist by his own petard.”
Love the phrase, by the way. Foley was my Congressman. He was on the RLC advisory board, but in recent years he became much more friendly towards big governemnt. At least the GOP’s picking someone with some fiscal sense as his replacement/stand-in – Fla. State Rep. Joe Negron. He has used the word “libertarian” to describe himself, but then again we haven’t been in close touch with him. We are busy making a Liberty Index of the Fla. House, which might make the picture a little more clear.
Tom
Dr. Palmer it is a shame something like this happened in US. How did he manage to get such a high profile position in the first place? Didn’t anyone notice this side of his persona? The American culture duality is very interesting, on one hand you have the much praised American dream, and on the other hand the decadent side — gang mentality (I’ve just seen a documentary on MS13), this horrible trend of people entering a school and shooting, prostitution etc. The latter can be found everywhere, but I’m always asking: how in the world such appalling things can happen in US?! The land of freedom, liberties, individualitiesÃ?Â?Ã?¢Ã?¢?Ã?¬Ã?Â?Ã?¦
Maha,
Bad behavior by people with power, even the rather petty power of a single member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is hardly unknown in history. As such things go, this was hardly unknown behavior, albeit deeply objectionable. Of great significance, it may not rise to the level of criminality, except, of course, under the law that Rep. Foley championed, which provides the ultimate irony of the case. The age of consent in the District of Columbia is 16, so even if he had had corporeal sexual relations (in contrast to merely talking about it online) with a 16 year ol, that would not have been illegal. That’s why this case is especially striking; older men hitting on younger people is an old story, going far back into antiquity, but in this case he might be prosecuted under a law that he wrote and without which he might merely be disgraced, but not prosecuted.
When thinking about the more general questions you raise, it’s important to realize that the U.S. is the third most populous nation in the world (rather far behind China and India, but still 300,000,000 people) and also probably the most media-dense nation in the world, so that there is A) a larger chance of notable things happening there, whether good or bad, than in smaller countries, just because there are more people, and B) a larger chance that it will be reported in the media. One consequence is a rather distorted picture of life in America, because a lower rate of, say, violent crime or sexual harassment or whatever could still generate more individual cases than in most other countries, each of which would have a greater chance of being reported and, given the central role of the U.S. in much world media, a greater chance of being reported internationally, thus giving the impression that there such behavior was more common than elsewhere. That’s not to deny the existence of social problems in any country, but to suggest that going by media reports, rather than, say, statistical studies, creates a very distorted impression.
I appreciate your reply Dr. Palmer. There must be some generalized illusion when it comes to US; both the good and the bad are exacerbated in the foreign media.
I’m sure if Rep. Foley was a Democrat or a member of NAMBLA, the ACLU would be quick to his defense and claim to protect is privacy and freedom of speech.
What more can be said? Let the law punish Foley; the crime is well defined.