The student newspaper of, by, and for Ames High School.

The WEB

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The student newspaper of, by, and for Ames High School.

The WEB

The student newspaper of, by, and for Ames High School.

The WEB

Government must be held accountable

Over the past few years, there have been many scandals in the political scene, most of which have ended up in resignations or even arrests. In two of these scandals, many people have yet to be held accountable for being involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys and the revealing of an active CIA agent’s identity. In recent months, nationwide polls have shown an increase in the amount of citizens who believe that some politicians in the administration should either resign or be forced to leave office. This growing opinion fuels the general lack of faith in the administration as a whole. Like individuals, groups of people should, and often are, held accountable for their actions. Several people are suspected in leaking Valarie Plame’s name to the press as a CIA operative, thus ruining her career. The most influential of these are Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove. The suspected cause for this action was due to a political disput –e with her husband, Joe Wilson. The other scandal yet to be resolved is focused around the firings of 10 United States attorneys. Although the president has the authority to appoint U.S. attorneys, firing them for reasons other than performance is considered unethical. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has repeatedly changed his stance on the actions that were taken. This lack of consistency has caused many members in Congress from both parties to ask for his resignation. There are many people throughout the country that have voiced an even stronger opinion, though. The governors from several states such as Nebraska and Vermont have asked Congress to begin proceedings to impeach both the President and the Vice President. Many Democratic Congressmen have been slow to act, however, because doing so would appear purely political. This hesitation to act as aggressively as many citizens would like has both positive and negative aspects. Hesitation is good, because it means that no drastic actions will be taken without considerable discussion and debate. However, this lack of swiftness also leads to a decrease in accountability that is necessary for the national government to remain as law-abiding as it requires its citizens to be. The best course of action falls in a gray area that can be politically dangerous. Most politicians would rather keep their job than do something far-fetched that not all of their constituents would like to see or agree with. The most important part of their job is to improve the country by moving the opinions of their voters from their state to the capital. When enough people wish for drastic changes, Congressmen need to lay their job on the line to do the best thing for the country.

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