LeBuhn: The Political Prosecutor

Not too long ago, I learned Blagojevich would be coming to speak at Northwestern and I breathed a long sigh of relief. Don't get me wrong: this is not exactly my standard response to such an occasion. However, given my long and ongoing attempt at running a column on politics at Northwestern, I was relieved to know that I would have such an easy topic to write on.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I sat down to write this column and just couldn't seem to put anything to paper. There are ten, maybe twelve just terrible drafts presently settled into the bottom of my trash bin.

Something was troubling me. I felt there was an issue here that was escaping me. While I was struggling with yet another mediocre draft, it hit me. Turn the attention from the speaker to the audience. What does Blagojevich's presentation say about us?

(Before I continue, a couple of disclosures: first, I made a decidedly sub par attempt at addressing the same large-haired subject in a fall quarter Daily column that ran Oct. 20. Feel free to find it on The Daily's website if you'd like to see a similar interpretation. Second, I sat on the College Democrat's executive board—the organization that booked Blagojevich—though I ended my participation prior to any discussions on bringing in Blagojevich.)

To get back to the issue at hand, I believe that Blagojevich will be remembered as part of a long and growing tradition in American culture. It's a tradition that reflects an increasingly postmodern and cynical society: we've grown increasingly comfortable with the criminals and clowns of the public arena.

For a while, the suit O.J. Simpson wore while he killed two women was being considered for induction into the Smithsonian. Donald Trump—a man whose claim to fame includes womanizing and bankruptcy—runs a show teaching business to the younger generation. Rod Blagojevich speaks on ethics at his alma mater.

These examples all point to the same growing tradition. Call it a manifestation of the Law of Unimportant Consequences: as long as showing off people like Blagojevich promises more in entertainment dollars than ignoring him does in moral currency, the studio executives, pundits and all else who determine American culture will continue to place a the man who disgraced Illinois on a stage, as they would do the same for anyone else like him.

The Unimportant Consequence here is, unfortunately, the fact that moral judgments that should be made upon someone like Blagojevich are tossed out in the name of entertainment. And this is a significant consequence.

The tendency to tolerate and even promote people like Blagojevich for entertainment's sake amounts to a huge moral failing on behalf of those who do so. Think of it: the reason Blagojevich was brought to Northwestern to a packed lecture hall was because he is a criminal. Put simply, his success in speaking is tied to his moral failings.

When Blagojevich came to Northwestern and was given a microphone and a speaker's fee, what else were we rewarding him for than for abusing his office and betraying the public office? For those who organized the event and those who attended: what does your participation say? How many of you would attend a speech by Pat Quinn? Mike Madigan?

My bet is that these names are far less familiar to the lay reader. These two senior Illinois politicians would never be able to pull the crowd that Blagojevich did for the simple reason that they aren't known to be bribe-seeking hacks.

The fact is, we will get the democracy we deserve. The serious question that remains asks: what is it that a generation that pays and cheers for its society's criminals deserves?