Retro 1990s post

I have one more for you on the topic of jail time for fraud . . . Paul Alper points us to a news article entitled, “Michael Hubbard, Former Alabama Speaker, Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison.” From the headline this doesn’t seem like such a big deal, just run-of-the-mill corruption that we see all the time, but Alper’s eye was caught by this bit:

His power went almost unquestioned by members of both parties: Even after he was indicted, Mr. Hubbard received all but one vote in the Legislature for his re-election as speaker.

Mr. Hubbard’s problems are only a part of the turmoil in Montgomery these days. The governor, Robert Bentley, is being threatened with impeachment for matters surrounding an alleged affair with a chief adviser, and the State Supreme Court chief justice, Roy S. Moore, who is suspended, has been charged with violating judicial ethics in his orders to probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Wow! The governor, the chief justice of the state supreme court, and all but one member of the legislature.

Back in the Clinton/Gingrich era, I came up with the proposal that every politician be sent to prison for a couple years before assuming office. That way the politician would already know how the other half lived; also, governing would be straightforward without the possibility of jail time hanging over the politician’s head. With the incarceration already in the past, the politician could focus on governing.

6 thoughts on “Retro 1990s post

  1. Isn’t it a conceit of one famous SF novel that some society of the future would allow a person to go to prison before committing what otherwise would be a crime?

  2. ___> “… just run-of-the-mill {government} corruption that we see all the time..”

    but apparently the great surprise here {to some} is that routine government corruption is much more ingrained than previously assumed

    the fundamental divide among all political ideologies is between those who trust government and those who do not

    • Digithead:

      Sure, but I’m not quite suggesting Scared Straight. It’s not that I’m saying that putting politicians in jail ahead of time will deter future politicians from committing crimes; rather, I’m saying that if our politicians are going to commit crimes anyway, it could simplify things to imprison them sooner rather than later.

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