It wasn’t my fault; it was his fault.

Well, I knew about it, but it wasn’t my place to do anything about it.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t our problem at all. It must’ve been the Democrats’ fault.

Okay, so it’s not the Democrats’ fault – it’s the media’s fault for blowing the whole thing out of proportion.

And it doesn’t matter anyway. Voters don’t care. We can do whatever we need to do to stay in power, and they’ll keep us in office.

So goes Republican logic in the continuing Mark Foley saga. As usual, nobody will take responsibility for doing anything wrong. They’ll point fingers at everyone else, and when they can’t get anyone to buy their story, they’ll just change the facts or insist that it’s no big deal.

Now conservatives are insisting yet again, that Republicans must “stay the course.” Naturally, all good Republicans will vote Republican in November, even if their party has completely dropped the ball on one of their own key issues. This notion illustrates perfectly why George Washington warned us of the dangers of political parties in his farewell address. The good of the nation should never be superseded by the good of the party. In Washington’s words: “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government” (Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796, www.yale.edu).

Thus far in our history, the American people have not been so stupid as to let that happen. If one of the parties lets us down, we vote them out. Obviously, Republicans are counting on voters to have short memories, weak morals, and meager intellects. Like good trained rats, they’ll go push the same buttons in the voting booth that they’ve always pushed. Is it just me or do the Republicans have a really low opinion of U.S. citizens?

One of the many conservative editors of my local newspaper, The Indianapolis Star, wrote today that Republican voters will not be affected by the Mark Foley scandal (Varvel, Foley-ated, 10/8/06). He proceeded to compare the Republican Party to the New York Yankees, and Republican voters to Yankee fans. His assertion? Just because one player does something stupid doesn’t mean all the team’s fans stop loving the team. This metaphor reveals the same naive dismissiveness betrayed in President Bush’s Iraq-as-a-comma-in-history comment. Sports teams provide entertainment; they do not decide the direction of a nation. When professional athletes make mistakes, their fans are affected indirectly and temporarily; when our politicians make mistakes, the entire country is affected for years or even centuries. Moreover, sports teams do suffer the consequences of their players’ bad behavior. Just ask the Indiana Pacers about their attendance in recent years. Did fans stop loving the Pacers after the Artest-Detroit debacle? You bet they did, at least long enough to send the team a message: Live up to our expectations or you lose our support.

In November, voters will send the same message to the Republican Party, home team or not. Americans must not simply vote for the same people they always have out of blind loyalty to a party. Our democracy was built on the belief that its citizens will select leaders based on their integrity and values. If voters believe in family values, they should be outraged not only by Foley’s behavior but by the inaction of the Republican leadership which did nothing to protect Foley’s underage targets. Dennis Hastert, John Shimkus and company acted out of loyalty to their party, choosing to protect their power instead of American citizens. If voters do the same thing and pick party over the good of the nation, Americans will soon be doing exactly what New York Yankee fans are doing today - wondering what happened to our beautiful season.