Congressman Jefferson needs to “take one for the team”.

And I’m not referring to the Democratic Party. I’m talking about his constituents; I’m talking about his country. In light of the accusations against him, and the evidence made public this weekend, the Congressman should simply resign. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, it is not a partisan issue at all. It is a question of ethics, and holding our elected officials to a higher standard.

The FBI raided Rep. Jefferson’s offices on Saturday, after a 14-month corruption investigation. Also made public this weekend was the existence of video showing Jefferson taking a $100,000 bribe, and the FBI discovering $90,000 of that same money in a freezer in the Congressman’s home. Here’s a Washington Post article on the latest developments:

FBI Says Jefferson Was Filmed Taking Cash

Rather than wait as long as humanly possible, like Tom DeLay, Congressman Jefferson should be a man, stand up and say, "I did wrong, and now I'm going to do right by my constituents and resign from Congress". Anything less than that, and Jefferson will be no better than DeLay, or Cunningham, or Taft, or Ney, or any of the other elected officials who have blatantly violated the trust of those they swore to represent. Democrat or Republican, such betrayal cannot and should not be tolerated by the American people.

We are deeply divided in this country. Those on the left, and those on the right can’t seem to see eye-to-eye on almost everything under the sun. But in this, we should be able to put aside our differences. In this, we should ALL agree. There is simply no room for, and we should have no tolerance for, the unabashed greed and corruption that we are seeing in public officials in our country.

We should expect better than this. The American people DESERVE better than this. And come November, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, we should all demand better than this. If we do, we will all be the better for it.