Friday, January 9, 2009

Illinois' Legal Snowblower

A member of the Illinois State House of Representatives' Impeachment Committee said that yesterday was a good and happy day for the State of Illinois. It was good, he said, because the committee had voted to recommend impeachment of Governor Rod Blagojevich and in doing so had demonstrated that nobody is above the law.

Wouldn't it be better and happier if such demonstrations were not necessary on a regular basis? This Democractic Governor stands charged with federal crimes and will likely be impeached, if he does not resign first. His immediate predecessor, Republican George Ryan, remains in jail for his conviction on corruption charges. It's been a long time since we have had a governor who has ended up as a criminal defendant.

Perhaps our politicians are a little bit like our weather. We live in a land of extremes. We can have beautiful, mild summers. We can also have brutally hot ones. We can have mild winters that are not too snowy and not too cold. We can also have winters like the one we are having now, exceptionally snowy and exceptionally cold. We have had some seasons of good gubernatorial leadership. Former Governors Jim Thompson and Jim Ryan are both recent (within the lifetime of our youngest voters) examples who show that politicians are not universally corrupt.

Let's hope that once the Blagojevich blizzard ends, that we have a long spring and summer of better government. Let's hope for many years ahead of good, happy days and a more pleasant political climate where we don't need regular demonstrations that nobody is above the law.

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