What if we held our political leaders to the same standards as our CEOs?
As I listened to the news this morning on Minnesota Public Radio, I was suddenly struck by a tremendous irony. There was a story about a Minnesota Marine who recently was killed in Iraq. And there was also coverage of the joint Bush-Blair news conference in which — surprise of surprises — the two leaders admitted "errors in Iraq." And there was also coverage about the Lay and Skilling convictions in the Enron case.
There is something about radio that you can't get in print or on TV or in the movies. Everything is sound. It's the direct connection between the ear and that part of the brain that registers auditory signals. It hits you in its own unique way. I guess that's why Garrison Keillor prefers radio over other media forms, and why The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stories are best told thru the original BBC radio series.
At any rate, the juxtaposition of these three stories on the radio — a family's grief, the gross incompetence of our national leaders, the tremendous hubris of two men who raped and pillaged a corporation — made so crystal clear the irony that if we held our President to the same standards as our CEOs — which is, incidentally, not all that high — impeachment would be considered only a mild rebuke.
Lay and Skilling were guilty of defrauding investors and destroying retirement plans. Thousands of people lost money but nobody died. The cost of the misdeeds was in the low billions. For this, Lay and Skilling face the rest of their lives in prison.
Bush and Blair are similarly guilty, though their misdeeds are far grander. They have defrauded citizens, taxpayers and voters. Tens of thousands have died. The cost of their misdeeds has now been estimated in the trillions. And future generations in three countries — hundreds of millions of people — will be left cleaning up the mess.
If a life in prison is suitable for the actions of Lay and Skilling, what therefore would be appropriate punishment for the crimes of Bush and Blair? If we held all four men to the same standard of justice where the punishment fit the crime, then even the illegal and inhumane methods employed by interrogators at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo might not be sufficient to equal the enormity of Bush and Blair's malfeasance.
LP
There is something about radio that you can't get in print or on TV or in the movies. Everything is sound. It's the direct connection between the ear and that part of the brain that registers auditory signals. It hits you in its own unique way. I guess that's why Garrison Keillor prefers radio over other media forms, and why The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stories are best told thru the original BBC radio series.
At any rate, the juxtaposition of these three stories on the radio — a family's grief, the gross incompetence of our national leaders, the tremendous hubris of two men who raped and pillaged a corporation — made so crystal clear the irony that if we held our President to the same standards as our CEOs — which is, incidentally, not all that high — impeachment would be considered only a mild rebuke.
Lay and Skilling were guilty of defrauding investors and destroying retirement plans. Thousands of people lost money but nobody died. The cost of the misdeeds was in the low billions. For this, Lay and Skilling face the rest of their lives in prison.
Bush and Blair are similarly guilty, though their misdeeds are far grander. They have defrauded citizens, taxpayers and voters. Tens of thousands have died. The cost of their misdeeds has now been estimated in the trillions. And future generations in three countries — hundreds of millions of people — will be left cleaning up the mess.
If a life in prison is suitable for the actions of Lay and Skilling, what therefore would be appropriate punishment for the crimes of Bush and Blair? If we held all four men to the same standard of justice where the punishment fit the crime, then even the illegal and inhumane methods employed by interrogators at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo might not be sufficient to equal the enormity of Bush and Blair's malfeasance.
LP
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