I don't pay attention to ethical scandals in Congress. I believe there are probably an equal number of crooked Republicans and crooked Democrats and the rest of the party plays a game of "you got our guy, so we're gonna get your guy" with them.

However, the news on Randy "Duke" Cunningham sparked my memory. Where had I heard that name before? Oh yes, in addition to pleading guilty to fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery and tax evasion, Cunningham is also responsible for this little gem of a quote back in June when some Republicans were trying to pass an Amendment to the Constitution to ban flag burning::

"Ask the men and women who stood on top of the (World) Trade Center ... [a]sk them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."

What a piece of work, huh?. He's also an example of what is so frustrating about party politics. He has(well, he used to have ;-) an "R" behind his name, but he represents the views of the average Republican about as well as Georgia congresswoman Cynthia "a regime that would steal an election right before our very eyes will do anything to all of us." McKinney represents the average Democrat.

Sometimes I think we could easily stop calling our elected officials "Republicans" or "Democrats" and instead brand them together as simply "politicians". It's easy to be cynical when the Republicans in power have turned into big government spenders and the Democrats are busy trying to turn Iraq into Vietnam: the sequel.

But, just like every rose has its thorn, every cloud has its silver lining. While I'm disillusioned with all the Bush conservatives and the evolution of Russ Feingold from independent idealist to shameless opportunist, I was excited to read about Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels in today's Washington Post. Daniels, at least in this article, sounds like the kind of person I could get behind. George Will sums up his philosophy like this:

There is more to limited government than limiting its spending, but there will be nothing limited about government unless its spending is strenuously limited.

Daniels himself, while working in Bush's director of the Office of Management and Budget, once said that Congress' motto apparently was "Don't just stand there, spend something."

Heh. Both of those quotes sounds like something Ronald Reagan would have said. It's kind of funny that a man named "Duke" from California is the antithesis of Reagan, while some city slicker from Indianapolis, via Princeton & Georgetown, could be his heir apparent.