selling out

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I suppose the American legislative branches count on people like me -- people who will not do what, for a flashing moment, I seriously considered doing when it came to the financial reform bill currently being whittled away in the House and Senate.

Not that my action would have amounted to much. All I was thinking of doing was sending a note to senators and representatives from my state saying, "Please don't screw us ... again."

It's such an impotent little whimper. Mentioning decency and honor to those who don't operate that way is like spilling a drop of water on a hot frying pan. It disappears almost instantaneously. And you can hear the indulgent, hissing chuckles.

Banks will continue to be "too big to fail," meaning that instead of setting money aside to pay for their own errors, the taxpayer will foot the bill for the banks that have lobbied and paid off various legislators whose main hope in life is to get re-elected. Credit cards will be allowed to charge usurious rates. Mortgages that might stun a mogul ... well, caveat emptor. And there will be smooth, articulate descriptions of how this legislation has done its best for the little guy.

I'm too old to be enraged by the selling out of public trust. It has happened before and will happen again, but I do wonder how people who are entrusted look in the mirror. It is a question that reflects more on me and less on them, I suspect.

And it is all the same as with other mistakes observed in others:

Just don't YOU do that!
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