Good Morning, 99%'ers! Today's post is a personal one so please bear with and indulge me today.

Many years ago I worked as a land use planner in local government. Land use planning is a very politically charged environment as the real estate interests have significant sway over campaign contributions to local elected officials. Further, real estate development is often seen as a form of economic development by those same officials, so there is always a lot of pressure upon professional staff to "facilitate" permitting and development.

As planners, one of our main roles was to review any changes to the Comprehensive Plan, either text or map amendments, and make a recommendation to the elected officials for approval or denial. Most of the time, these reviews and the reports to the commissions were sent forward to them without internal disputes among staff over the recommendation.

Changes from residential to anything else were reviewed based upon a set of criteria adopted within the Comprehensive Plan so the review in most cases was very objective. Either the site met the criteria to remain residential or it did not. Occasionally we would have a site that met only some of the criteria and that would put it into a subjective call. The particular site I had been assigned to review met all the criteria for remaining residential and a change to commercial would allow for commercial intrusion and traffic to flow in a residential neighborhood. It was not even remotely borderline. So my report evaluated it against the criteria and recommended denial of the change. However, the applicant was a politically connected realtor. But as a professional staffer, that should not factor into my review, or so I thought.

After the reports were assembled, they were sent to the department head for review prior to their being sent to the elected officials. One afternoon shortly thereafter, I got a call to report to the department head's office. When I walked in, every staff member of a higher rank than me was in the office, even staff members from other divisions. I was then asked why I made the recommendation that I did. I went over the criteria and said that it was the only recommendation consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. At that point, one of the honchos in another division asked me why I loved "My Plan" so much and why could I not bend the criteria to allow for this change to go through. I was shocked. It was then that I realized I was in a kangaroo court designed to pressure me to do something that was contrary to what I saw as my professional integrity and public credibility. Not even thinking about possible repercussions, I blurted out that I would stake my job on that report and if need be, I was willing to take the fall for it. The department head was stunned that a 20 plus year employee felt that strongly. I was then dismissed from the room, not knowing what would happen next.

Even though I was under career service, long ago, I had learned that they can get rid of you if they want to and I was prepared for that to happen. But it did not happen. The recommendation stood and the elected officials voted to uphold the recommendation without any discussion.

The moral of this is I felt so strongly about my professional integrity and public credibility that I did not think about risking my job to do the right thing. I want to say that I am no hero here, every one of my colleagues probably would have done the same thing.

But I wonder how many politicians would ever do that? Maybe it is the nature of politics that you check your integrity and credibility at the door once you are elected. Yesterday, I made the comment below on an essay. It was in regard to my disappointment that Bernie Sanders was now not only endorsing Hillary Clinton but also singing praises of her qualifications and appears to be urging his supporters to vote for her.

It really makes me sad. Bernie had the chance to walk away with his integrity intact and he could not do that. It was not about him, but he owed it to all of those people who supported his campaign to not capitulate and support her whole heartedly. But he did, as has every other supposed liberal in Congress. The Clintons (and by extension the Democratic party) are simply odious They destroy everyone who comes in their way and they compromise the integrity of those who choose to work within the system.

This begs the question. Can anyone in politics survive with his or her integrity intact? I think probably not. One of my least favorite fp'ers over at LOF is fond of saying that politics is a blood sport. Yes, for those who see it as a game, it is a blood sport with winners and losers. And regardless of how bad a candidate may be on the issues or integrity, if they wear a team blue jersey, they must be supported at all costs.

The problem with that way of thinking and everything we have seen in recent years is that no one talks about the issues that matter to the people. The fact is that the people simply do not matter.

Your vote and my vote have become meaningless. My right to vote may be abridged by those in charge of the elections or it may be changed by rigged voting machines or it may not even be counted. And yet no one is talking about that. No one in the media, no one in the political arena, and least of all, Bernie Sanders. Why?

Why is it that someone who has had the entire system rigged against them, suddenly lays down at the foot of the person who did the rigging. I know that the Clintons play dirty and if you go up against them, there will be hell to pay, but Bernie had to know that going in. This could not have come as a surprise to someone like him who has been a part of the political process on the national stage for as many years as he has.

It takes courage of your convictions to stand up against power. It is not always the politically expedient way, but it is the right way. And sometimes what appears to be the wrong decision in standing up for your integrity and credibility is exactly why people see you as having integrity and credibility to begin with.

And so today, I am asking why? In my mind nothing is more important than than my integrity and credibility. The only person I have to live with 24/7 is myself. So this is why I have so much trouble understanding why Bernie folded like he did.

So that is what has been eating at me the last two days. That and a bad case of poison ivy that has been driving me nuts for nearly two weeks.

As always, this is an Open Thread, so feel free to post whatever you wish. And for those who may be interested, I will return to my series on neo-liberalism next week.