What Beast Slouches?

Well, it was Thanksgiving, and now it is Winter Break. Along the way the governor of Illinois tried to sell the United States Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Oh, please, this is the stupidest move by a politician since William Bennett (not really an elected official but engaged in political activities) published his Book of Moral Virtues while he was gambling away, was it millions of dollars? Or since Rush Limbaugh admitted to his serious addiction to drugs while he railed disgustingly at people who were addicted to drugs.

I should have expected it. But I seem to have blindsided by this absurdity. Perhaps it is the bold (or bald) effrontery of the attempt; I mean, people have bought and sold favors and government seats before. I would suspect that in the United States people have actually bought whole elections. But I cannot recall ever studying an escapade like this undertaken with such ridiculous stupidity (if that is a redundancy, they deserve it) of the people involved. The complete lack of tact or skill, or even the slightest gesture towards discretion baffles and appalls me. These are people in positions of power!! These people are potentially dangerous, but to discover that they are so blatantly stupid as well frightens me. In any class (and these people had none), this performance would have warranted not only a trip to the principal’s office, but an ‘F’ as well. And definitely a ‘U’ for attitude grade.

Abraham Lincoln (I think) said, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!” What were the people of Illinois thinking when they elected this obvious fool to office?

And what lesson in civics will the schools present this week?

But the season of holiday is here. And I should be kind and forgiving. But I don’t want to be.