He Steals for Us

Dearest Rachel –

I’m sure I really should be focusing on our preparations for our flight out tomorrow evening to Israel, but my mind is preoccupied with other things at the moment. Sure, there are personal things that I need to attend to, but today, the events of the world at large – or at least, the nation at large – have captured my attention, enough so that I could (and may yet) write multiple letters to you solely dwelling on what’s about to happen, and my perspective upon them.

Because, you see, today is Election Day. And while it’s in an off year, they may well be the most significant midterms in our history – although granted, we probably hear that hackneyed old phrase every year. However, this is the first time I might actually believe it.

For the longest time, I was of the opinion of ‘look, what harm can one idiot do in four years, anyway?’ or two, or even six if we’re talking about Senators. Then again, we went from not having met each other to saying “I do” in less than four years, so maybe I shouldn’t discount the effects of time and circumstance. And let’s not forget that Jesus’ ministry lasted but three years – although, if you believe in Him, you have to accept that He was no ordinary Man. So in my mind, the ability of a single individual to change history, even from the alleged halls of power, is vastly limited, and it rarely really matters who’s in Washington.

Of course, maybe that comes from living here in Illinois, a one-party-rule state (though it hasn’t always been that way, it certainly is now), and constantly having to mutter about sour grapes.

Anyway, this year, from what I can tell, there aren’t enough expletives in the English language to substitute for the generally accepted term ‘bums’ that used to be the key word in the phrase of the day, “throw the bums out.” Normally, for all the griping and moaning that the electorate does, very little ‘throwing out’ actually happens in a given election (to be fair, they can only throw out a third of the Senate at any given time, so that’s part of it; but that’s by design to avoid the total anarchy that might result of a complete overthrow of the government – not as if that ever happens, anyway). This year, however, the atmosphere seems different, charged with a sort of energy that, while not throwing everybody out, looks to shift the balance of control fairly radically.

This letter isn’t going to go into that possibility of change; after all, it hasn’t happened yet, so I don’t want to spoil myself by describing what the new arrangements might look like or accomplish. Counting chickens and all that, you know – and again, this is Illinois; I’ve heard nothing to suggest that what we have is going to change. But what comes to mind, first thing this morning, is the question of why this doesn’t happen more often? After all, so many people go into politics, claiming they are going to change everything, only to find themselves changed, and not for the better.

A politician next door
Swore
He’d set the Washington arena on fire
Thinks he’ll gladiate them
But they’re gonna make him
A liar

Steve Taylor, “Whatever Happened to Sin?”, from I Want to Be a Clone (1982)

And yet, as a general rule, we keep voting for these same schmucks, long after it’s become perfectly obvious to all and sundry that they’ve been corrupted beyond redemption. Why?

I asked this of a co-worker years ago, who gave me a brilliantly succinct, if thoroughly depressing, answer. He happened to live in Illinois’ fifth congressional district, which at the time was represented by a man named Dan Rostenkowski, who was chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. Basically, he was in charge of the group who was in charge of how Congress spends the country’s money. And at the time, he was on trial for corruption – and when it’s bad enough that you’ve been arrested, indicted and put on trial, you’ve likely done something seriously wrong, especially if you’re on the side of the aisle that normally gets away with all manner of veniality and felonious behavior (which he was – again, it’s Illinois, and Chicago, no less). George admitted he knew about ‘Rosty’s’ behavior for a long time, but continued to vote for him, because, as he put it,

Yeah, he’s a thief. But he steals for us.

George Hartmann (probably not remotely original, but he’s where I heard it from, so I’m going to give him credit for it)

We, as an electorate, will put up with a lot of criminal behavior from those we choose to have represent our interests, as long as they represent our interests. Who cares if they’re thieves, as long as they steal for us in the bargain? Everyone’s got their hand in the trough; we’d be chumps if we voted for an honest guy while everyone else grabs a bigger slice of the pie than we wind up with because of his naïve honesty, right? And that’s how you end up with a kleptocracy; when you vote for a guy claiming to be Robin Hood, you’re still voting for a thief.

And it isn’t just crooks, either. Dad would tell me about the Detroit suburb that Mom lived in when he was courting her. I had to look up about the concept of ‘sundown towns,’ but Dearborn was clearly one of them. The mayor at the time, one Orville Hubbard, literally had billboards up, warning those of a certain race (and these billboards actually addressed them directly with the now utterly taboo N-word, no less): “Don’t let the sun go down on you in Dearborn.” At the same time, when his to-be father-in-law called city hall about a pothole on the street they lived on, they had a crew out within twenty-four hours to patch it, followed by a phone call to ensure that the job had been done to his satisfaction, and to remind him to bear in mind who was taking care of things so cleanly and efficiently in this town come election time. Despite being appalled by the billboards and the attitude they represented, he understood why Mayor Hubbard could keep getting elected time after time, for fifteen consecutive terms.

But there comes a time when those kind of attitudes are no longer acceptable – be it the segregationist bigotry or the financial mismanagement – and in the case of the latter, it seems that the public has come to realize that the line may well have been crossed.

Maybe. We’ll see.

And then we’ll have to watch the new crop of electees, to make sure they do what we’ve sent them there to do, rather than let themselves become part of the replicating machine of corruption.

Wish them luck, honey. I know none of it matters in the grand cosmic scheme of things, but as long as we’re stuck down here, they – and we, who will be subject to what they do or don’t do – are gonna need it.