Let He Who Is Without Cynicism Cast the First Stone

Don’t be so cynical, they tell us. You media people are fraying our social fabric by being so negative. Nobody’s perfect, give the politicians a break.

I actually fret about admonitions like that.

Are we too cynical?

Are we fraying the social fabric?

Is nobody perfect?

Just about the time I wonder if we’re the problem, I review recent local history:

* Orange County Congressman Jay Kim said last week that he’d invoke the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination if called to testify in the trial of a man accused of illegally contributing to his campaign. The man says Kim knew the contributions were illegal.

* Orange County Assemblyman Mickey Conroy goes to court this week as a sexual harassment suit filed against him by a former staffer gets underway.

* Freshman Orange County Assemblyman Scott Baugh is under indictment in the wake of a special election he won last fall.

* Former Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron awaits sentencing on charges relating to the county bankruptcy.

* County Supervisors Roger Stanton and William Steiner face civil charges stemming from the bankruptcy.

That only updates the local scene. It doesn’t begin to tap into the national level, where Dan Rostenkowski, one of the most powerful members of the U.S. House of Representatives until he lost his reelection bid, recently pleaded guilty and is going to jail instead of fighting corruption charges.

Am I leaving anybody out?

Yes, but they give me only so much space here.

I know people think that reporters are born cynics. What if I told you that, at heart, we’re all born romantics? What if I told you that we all want the world to be peachy keen and free of crime and corruption and that, if it were, we’d be happy to report that?

It’s just that we’ve all become spurned lovers. We want our institutions to be perfect and so we can’t wait to cover the Statehouse or the White House and watch these heroic figures make our government work.

Then we get taken. You know how it is when you think your beloved has done you wrong. You turn on them. You foam at the mouth and hate them for what they’ve done to your beautiful life.

That’s what we do to politicians. We want them to be pure, because you voted for them and they promised you things and told you they were wonderful people and you believed them. Then we see them taking money under the table or selling you down the river or playing you for the fool, and it MAKES US CRAZY!

So, to let them know how much we appreciate them screwing up our system of government, we write about their deeds in newspapers and magazines. Don’t you want the world to know when your spouse has done you wrong? Same with us.

It’s not that we hate. It’s that we love too much. (Hmm. “Journalists Who Love Too Much.’ I like it.)

Some readers may think of us as mean. Please don’t. Think of us instead as jilted. Maybe you’ll understand us better then.

And, finally, dear reader, lest you think we’re too hard on the pols, take heart. If criticizing politicians had the effect of fraying the social fabric, the republic would have unraveled long ago.

I’m not sure there’s ever been a time when the American press has been easy on public officials. You see, they’ve been hurting us for a long time now.

In modern times, people often cite the Eisenhower-Kennedy years as a time when the press overlooked a politician’s flaws. In some cases, that was true.

But let’s not get gushy about it.

“Are You a Thinking American?”

That was the headline above the Page 1 editorial in the Times as Americans went to the polls to decide between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. The editorial went on to say:

“You are not marking your ballot for your favorite comedian, the most fast-tongued orator, biggest giveaway sponsor or best-dressed fashion model. . . . By a man’s company, he is known. Seeing the bobbysox swooners, some of the off-beat personalities in the entertainment world, the utopian political schemers surrounding their dream boy is frightening. As a thinking American, mark your ballot for Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge.”

And you think we’re mean-spirited today?

Now, that was nasty. By that standard, today’s reporters are a bunch of pussycats.

* Dana Parsons’ columns appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.