On the recordDecember 1, 1997
As Speaker Jim Wright asked from the well of this House in 1989, When will this mindless cannibalism end?'' How many good public officials must be destroyed because of their private sins and human imperfections? When will we stop using the fallibilities of dedicated public servants to overturn the will of the American people expressed in free elections? When will we stop the sin of focusing on the faults of others while ignoring the faults of ourselves? When will we recognize that the genius of our Founding Fathers was that they designed a system of government two centuries ago that would survive not because of the perfections of those who serve but despite the imperfections of all of us who serve? When? When? My colleagues, I would suggest only when we recognize these things will the ru
