As the 2006 midterm elections demonstrated, Americans do not like misconduct in public office. Misbehavior by those in the public eye, particularly those elevated to high public office, erodes our confidence in the institutions and traditions that under-gird our society.

This is why the revelations about Miss USA Tara Conner, quickly followed by the scandal which led to the dethroning of Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees, were so terribly demoralizing. Americans do not like to hear that their beauty pageant queens are getting intoxicated, sleeping around, kissing other women, including Miss Teen USA (in the case of Rees, even being photographed kissing and simulating oral sex with other women). I know that the referrer logs at my regular web gig were filled with search engine requests for such photos, as people simply could not believe our society had sunk so low without seeing the evidence for themselves.

Clearly, some of the problem is institutional. Any electoral system that depends upon the judgment of Jerry Springer is badly in need of reform.

But we cannot completely absolve ourselves in this matter. Like the troubled Miss America franchise, Americans were increasingly not paying attention to the Miss USA pageant. As tends to be the case, we do not pay attention to a developing problem until something goes badly wrong.

What can we, as Americans, do now? Tonight, Ms. Conner will hand the tiara to a new woman, which I hope will produce a “new direction”—a phrase lefty linguist George Lakoff lambastes the Democrats for using but which seems oddly appropriate in this context.

In a small step toward democracy of the sort we champion for Saudi Arabia, the Miss USA pageant is allowing people to vote for Miss Photogenic through its NBC website. I urge you, my fellow Americans, to not sit on your hands. Review the photo galleries at the NBC site; the more socially-conscious among you may want to to do further research here.

Vote.