I can’t get too worked up over the Blagojevich scandal. You mean the governor expected quid pro quo for doling out power and influence? I’m shocked.
That’s what politicians do. Currying favor, demanding payment and consideration for their largess, that’s what politics is. What makes Blagojevish unusual is that he was so painfully obvious in his attempts to peddle his power.
Steve Horowitz at The Austrian Economists makes this point very well.
I simply do not understand how those who are in favor of giving government all of these new powers because they sincerely believe that doing so will work out the way their blackboard designs intended can keep a straight face. What kind of cognitive dissonance must it take to believe that the people YOU are handing power over to are “not like” Ted Stevens or Rod Blagojevich? How deeply must one be in denial or engage in rationalization to believe that they are “different?” How blind must one be to think that trillions of dollars in bailout money won’t go to the highest bidder (as the lobbyists line up on K Street…) in a process different only in its wink-and-a-nod courtesies than Blagojevich’s auctioning off of a Senate seat?
In other news, it looks like an “agreement” was reached on the bailout. It was being held up by some politicians, but those politicians have now gotten what they wanted. I sure am glad that none of the politicians voting to give the automakers money recieved any contributions from the automakers! That would surely be scandalous.
