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Harvey Weinstein, rape culture and draining the swamp

By Scott Tibbs, October 19, 2017

While conservatives are shrieking with glee over the revelations that Harvey Weinstein is a sexual predator, we are missing a major issue and we risk losing an opportunity to make real progress against sexual violence by making this a partisan feces-throwing contest. The issue with Weinstein scandal is not liberal hypocrisy. It is how people in power get away with rape and sexual assault. The issue is rape culture.

Is hypocrisy an issue, given how politicians who condemn maltreatment of women accepted Weinstein's money when it was well known within Hollywood what he did? Sure. But the bigger issue is how people in power get away with crime because they have money. Examples include the previously mentioned Weinstein, but also Jerry Sandusky, Bill Cosby, Josh Duggar and Dennis Hastert. Each of them leveraged their power to get away with sex crimes, though all were eventually exposed. So-called "judge" Aaron Persky, who released Brock Turner after a violent rape, also contributes to rape culture.

Weinstein is just the tip of the iceberg. 1980's child star Corey Feldman has exposed the evil in Hollywood over the last few years, including the sexual abuse inflicted upon him and the even worse abuse suffered by his friend Corey Haim. Let's be brutally honest here: Corey Haim was murdered by his rapists. They may not have had a direct hand in his death, but that abuse started him on the self-destructive path that ended his life before age 40. They should all be put to death.

Until we break the crooked system that allows people like Weinstein, Sandusky, Hastert, Duggar and Cosby to get away with their crimes for years and even decades, we will never have justice and women will never be safe. We need to drain the swamp, staring with removing corrupt prosecutors and so-called "judges" from office. We need to drain the swamp not just in Washington DC, but in every nook and cranny of this country, down to the local county courthouses.