Since the beginning of October when Harvey Weinstein was fired because of numerous sexual assault and rape accusations against him, forty high-profile men to date have either resigned from their positions or have been coerced into resigning. In the last week alone, three congressmen announced that they would leave their offices due to allegations against them. The three congressmen are Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ari.), with Franks being the most recent resignation. A Washington Post article pointed out Friday Dec. 8th that the last time this many congressmen resigned in such a short time period, it was in 1861 over slavery.
I find Franken’s resignation to be the most impactful, personally. I remember seeing him on my university campus earlier this semester, and making many internal comments on how he presented himself and how gullibly smitten Austin liberals were with his empty stories. Having recently released his new book at the time, Franken appeared to be selling stories from his novel more than useful or persuasive policies, or even notable commentary about the current state of political affairs. As I remember, the audience was oblivious to the lack of substance in his stories, because they were projecting a common liberal attitude towards Franken that night. Franken was a liberal darling—funny, passionate, charismatic, and, most importantly, a Democrat. If you identified with the left, how could you not like him?
When the first allegation about sexual harassment performed by Franken surfaced Nov. 16th, the liberal darling image finally came into question. Franken was accused of forcibly kissing and groping a newscaster in 2006. The Democratic Party grappled with the cognitive dissonance of their former Saturday Night Live comedian’s identity being coupled with the image of a sexual assaulter. Franken apologized for his actions, but no administrative recourse was yet being sought, as Franken and the Democratic Party shifted any personal decision for resignation onto the advise of the Senate Ethics Committee.
Many Democrat congressmen and women supported the administrative intervention by the Ethics Committee, claiming that sexual harassment was not a matter that could be reconciled simply by an apology. However, no real move was made to push for Franken’s resignation until after Rep. John Conyers, Jr. was forced to resign amidst his own sexual harassment accusations. Several women continued to accuse Franken of sexual harassment, and thirty-two Democratic senators responded by uniting behind a collective call for Franken to resign. Finally on Thursday Dec. 7th, Franken announced his intention for resignation.
To the Democratic Party’s credit, forcing resignation onto Franken, and Franken for accepting to resign, was the best decision for the party to make in order to maintain consistency in its condemnation of the Republican Party uplifting sexual assaulters like Donald Trump and child predators like Roy Moore. The fact that the Democratic Party had to remove one of its most beloved and publicly adored (among Democrats, of course) members from its ranks only bolsters the party allegiance to its claims that all and any sexual violence should be condemned. The Democratic Party is attempting to successfully project that they are serious about sexual violence.
However, Franken noted in his resignation address the troubling reality of the American people’s situation:
“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.” Mr. Franken said.
While the Democratic Party attempts to seriously address the normalcy of sexual violence in our society, they act so alone. Even in light of Rep. Trent Franks’ resignation, the consistent backing of Roy Moore and the never-ending justifications for his outrageous predatorily actions signals a cultural movement existing outside of the Republican Party at best, and an alarming tendency of group membership in politics to supersede all other values and value systems at worse. After all, as Republican Rep. Mo Brooks pointed out during the Alabama Senate race, the only reason why you might vote for Doug Jones, the Democrat candidate, is because you support Democratic leaders. Obviously, blind loyalty to a political party is the only value Americans should instill in a nation.
Even more alarming of the Republican Party’s justifications are how they excuse revolting behaviors exhibited by the leaders of the highest public offices of this country. President Donald Trump’s inappropriate comments and boastings commending sexual violence continue to be dismissed as “locker-room talk” as countless sexually harassed and abused individuals are suppressed into silence, believing that their accusations will not be taken seriously and repercussions for inappropriate behavior are impossible. Again, either the Republican Party is so antiquated with how it understands the moral underpinnings of society that it proves to be irrelevant in terms of promulgating modern morality (*insert various theories about societal morality and morality in law here*), or the Republican Party erroneously degrades the rationality, and by consequence, the humanity, of individuals by coercing group members to take part in and promote tribalism.
It’s great that the Democratic Party is projecting to take sexual violence seriously, but it is not enough that Democrats respond to cultural pressures alone. The Republican Party must respond to cultural pressures, too, when sexual assault accusations are reasonably held to be true. Otherwise, real cultural progress minimizing sexual violence in this country will continue to be stifled.