Bloodless Coup

The BCCI Investigation

This article praises John Kerry's role in investigating BCCI. He fought a number of prominent Democrats in doing so, and his work clearly furthered the people's interests. By highlighting Kerry's behavior in this matter the authors could be seen as highlighting particular strengths of Kerry that would make him fit to be president. But by highlighting this case they are illustrating another reason to vote for Kerry that has little to do with him personally. The Congress is likely to be in Republican hands in 2005, and we have seen during the past four years that when one party controls all branches of government that the chances of Congress carrying out its valueable oversight role are substantially diminished. One of the merits of divided government is that it offers a variety of actors control over the mechanisms of government, and in that situation particularly egregious, sometimes even dangerous, abuses are more likely to be brought to light and stopped. Now the Democrats can't really run on a slogan of "Vote for Kerry because we know you're voting Republican for Congress". But it's something worth keeping in mind.