Another one bites the dust.

Today, the Associated Press reports: "Republican Rep. Rick Renzi was indicted Friday on charges of extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other matters in an Arizona land swap scam that allegedly helped him collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs."

Is anyone surprised? No, of course not. Most people are starting to understand that behind that false front of piety and overly-starched moral rectitude, Republican lawmakers are, by and large, a corrupt, bitter, nasty, incompetent bunch of people. And when you’re incompetent, but you have power, you can just force other people to give you stuff. That’s the Republican way!

The entire "conservative" philosophy of government is a fraud. It is not system for governing a nation, but one for transferring the accumulated wealth and power of a nation into the hands of a very few as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

What does the whole anti-regulatory, anti-tax scheme accomplish? It greases the economic rails, allowing money to slip and slide quickly into the pockets of those few who hold the reins of power. And they could only do any of this because, during the era of higher taxes and stronger regulation, our government built up a solid foundation for the country, in its infrastructure, its market supervision, its educational system, its legal system, its social safety net. After decades of neglect resulting from the Republican assault on government, all of this stuff is now falling into disrepair.

The infrastructure is a perfect example. We rely on the infrastructure that was built up during the golden age of liberal government, under FDR and Truman. Streets, highways, bridges, sewer systems, sewage treatment plants, storm drain systems, natural gas systems, electrical wiring, fresh water delivery. All of these systems are falling into disrepair for lack of sufficient investment in their upkeep. Sewage leaks are becoming more common, treatment plants are overwhelmed by the output of growing populations, pipes burst or break, a foul smell fills the air. I’m sure that if you think about any aspect of infrastructure, you’ll find plenty of places where investment is sorely needed.

A country that does not invest in itself cannot survive. It is that simple. Democrats, progressives, liberal republicans all know this. But we don’t hold the reins of power right now. Not in the executive, not in the judiciary, certainly not in industry or the corporate world. We have a thin majority in the House, and a plurality in the Senate, where one man, Joe Leiberman, can scuttle even the best-laid plans.

Meanwhile, all of those taxes that should have been paid over the last thirty years to invest in the upkeep of the nation’s (and in California’s) infrastructure, all of that money has instead gone into the pockets of the Rick Renzis and Rupert Murdocks and Dick Cheneys, the Halliburtons and Enrons and Exxons of the country.

And lets face it, they made their money on the backs of the investments of an earlier generation of Americans. Had the people in the 40s, 50s and 60s not paid those higher taxes, there wouldn’t have been any infrastructure, educational system, regulated (and thus trusted) market system to rely on – there wouldn’t have been any rails to grease. It is only because liberal policies worked so well that the republicans were able to come in, lower taxes on themselves to the point of non-existence, grab hold of the reins of power and rake in the money by the billions.

We have been living on borrowed time, and somebody, eventually, is going to have to pay the bills. Otherwise, the country and its people will continue to fall into disrepair. Shame on you, Rick Renzi, for being an agent of misery! But none of us should be surprised -- that is the Republican way.