Blogging Blagojevich

MarketWatch had an article about the morally embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Tapes exist clearly recording Blagojevich attempting to sell the rights to Barack Obama's vacant Illinois senate seat. (Click here to see article.)

A reader posted a comment, and I replied to the post.

Here is the reader's comment and my reply:

READER POSTS:

I put almost 32 years in the federal system, got so tired of the BS that I took a deferred retirement, just to get out. The lying, deceit and underhanded actions taken by those "elitist". I worked my way up to a senior management position, held it for 10 years and said enough, I cannot nor will not modify my behavior and sell my soul and integrity for a cheap number on a piece of paper that has no value..... wait how many zeros are on that green back??? LOL,, seriously, there is waste no doubt, but its the behind the scene action that turns my stomach. I have been thinking about approaching a rich investor and seeing if he or she would fund enough money to build 3 ships, and allow me to search west for rich lands........ wait that has already been played out.. well back to the drawing board. The Peter Principal is alive and well.

PURPLE NEON LIGHTS REPLIES:

I appreciate your sentiments. Thanks for speaking up.

At the same time, would you have left your management position if you didn't have a retirement stream of income sewed up?

Maybe you would have, but the vast majority would not have.

That's what makes the governor's actions all the more reprehensible. He, of all people, was in a position to change things. He could have spoken up on behalf of the small guy. He had money coming in, no matter what, so the need for cash didn't have him over a barrel. He could have simply said: "Guess what, folks, I am a one-term governor. I am very likely a one-term governor because I am going to speak up against the rampant corruption. I could not say this earlier, and get elected. But now that I am elected, all hell is going to break loose. Because I am going to speak up, I will not be able to get legislation passed. I may get shot. I will certainly undergo character vivisection from the greedy pigs who wanted to slop at my trough, and are now squealing in pain because they can't buy another vacation home. Since I have a steady flow of money in the foreseeable future from book deals and speaking engagements, I have the financial freedom to speak up on behalf of those in the government system who have had to choose feeding their kids over having good character in workplace.

Alas, the Illinois governor did not do this. He didn't do this because a moral cripple, addicted to the trappings of power and prestige. He's a little weenie who desperately needs everyone to think he's a big shot, when he's not. He's not reclaimable in the foreseeable future.

Because he has zero ethical backbone, and is a moral coward, lacking the courage to reform himself when it is utterly obvious that such a path is the wise one to take, lambasting the governor by e-mails is a waste of time. What I am looking for is e-mail addresses of those who are a few bureaucratic levels under the governor, who still have some conscience, who receive few enough e-mails that they will actually read and feel them. I am looking for those who simply HAD to know what what was going on, and didn't do anything, because everything was too comfy cozy. I am looking for those who are well off enough to be able to go without a paycheck for a few months while landing a new well-paying job if they somehow can find it in themselves to do the right thing.

Those are the people who can be persuaded. Since their moral senses are still intact, and they have enough money that they have the option of not selling out their consciences, they can be persuaded.

The governor is a sociopath who needs to be quarantined for the rest of us, or exterminated If it were medieval times, he might well be a good candidate for being publicly slow-roasted in a hollow iron bull, but we're too civilized for that.

I have heard that one of the few things that can affect the selfishness of high elected officials is embarrassment. It's because these clowns are after power and prestige, and embarrassment hits them where they live. Don't underestimate the power of e-mails to underlings. Undermine the underlings' confidence with the termites of your e-mails and watch Big Daddy come a-tumblin' down like Saddam in the center of Baghdad.
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