The 2018 midterm election season is just around the corner and both the Republican and Democratic parties stink with sex abuse charges against high ranking officials. The stench now grows even worse with news of a secret slush fund set up exclusively for payment of settlements to abused women. Since payments from this slush fund are now upwards of fifteen million dollars, there are possibly hundreds of abused women out there who have received payments and agreed not to talk but disclosure agreements be damned, they have stories to tell that voters deserve and need to hear.
Will those victimized women sit passively by, watching as their abusers deceive voters and smugly paint morally wholesome pictures of themselves, hypocritically decry abusers from the other party and ultimately win reelection to powerful offices staffed full of even more potential female victims? Many will not and since neither party is clean on this matter, the party which best weathers the coming storm will be the party that tries hardest and most humbly in the eyes of American voters to make itself clean rather than arrogantly protect it’s abusers. Thus far however, it could be argued by Republicans that they’re ahead of Democrats on this issue.
Republicans can honestly claim that in the case of Roy Moore, his own fellow Republicans are calling for his resignation. What’s more, they can further argue that they’re doing this without actual proof that the allegations are true. That’s thin because it looks like that the charges are indeed credible but it’s still more than the Democrats can offer. In the case of Al Franken, we have a photograph and an apology for what he did. There is no argument that he abuses women. But unlike Republicans calling for Roy Moore to step down, the Democrats are only calling for an “investigation” into something that is is already proven. There is no investigation needed and the American people know it.
In the case of John Conyers, it’s almost a carbon copy approach with Nancy Pelosi calling for an “investigation” into something that is already decided. The charges against Conyers were investigated years ago and judged warranting of a $27,000 settlement so as with Al Franken, we have a known abuser. The American people know when they’re being gamed. The purpose of these so called “investigations” is to delay action while working damage control in hopes that the issue will simply die down. The Democratic Party, which prides itself on women’s rights, is actually working to protect abusers of women within it’s own ranks. And apparently, they think the American people are too dumb to see it.
On a politically cynical note however, if Democratic leadership could actually step up to the plate and force out Franken and Conyers, the Democrats would stand head and shoulders above Republicans, and win the support of voters who are not fully committed to one political party or another. They would also win back some respect from women at a time when women are desperately looking for any sign of support from either of the two parties. Republicans would be left holding the bag with Roy Moore, an ever increasing number of accusations coming out against him, and a not so popular president that just recently came foolishly close to endorsing him. All this going into a midterm election year.
This could be your moment Dems, step up to the plate.
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