News of the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff on corruption charges for trying to "sell" his appointment to fill Pres-elect Obama's vacated Senate seat should serve as a warning to politicians everywhere who see political office as a means of self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. If the governor of a state can be hauled off in cuffs (literally), then what makes any politician think that he can disregard the law indefinitely? Allegations are that Blagojevich also used his office to attempt to get a Chicago Tribune columnist who was critical of him fired. It seems that once some people achieve high (or even not-so-high, in the case of some county council members I can think of) office, they think that they are above the law (apologies to Steven Segall). Power - sometimes it's only perceived power - seems to go to their heads. It's the Boss Hogg model: "I'm in charge around here, this is my {town/county/state/country}, and I'll do with it as I please!" This is still a democracy, however (a republic is a form of democracy, all you poli sci undergrads), so, when the people are sufficiently annoyed, they will act. This turn of events reassures me that we are also still - to some extent - a nation governed by the rule of law (see the relevant chapter in "Road to Serfdom" by Friedrich Hayek).
The FBI special agent-in-charge stated in the article that he hoped the governor's arrest "would send a clear single to elected officials in Illinois that business-as-usual will no longer be tolerated, that selling your office for personal gain is a... practice of the past." I hope that as well, for all levels of government and in every state. But given that Blagojevich is far from the first Illinois governor (let alone the first governor in the nation) to find himself in legal hot water while in office, his immediate predecessor being among them, I'm not holding my breath.
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