Looking to govt.

Discussing political corruption in 5/4/05 Sun-Times, Carol Marin finds a “small ray of hope” in Michael Shakman’s determination to thwart City of Chi lawyers trying to get his anti-patronage decree vacated.  In Shakman decree she trusts, even though things have gotten worse under its sway.  Why wouldn’t she find her ray of hope in U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald’s going after the crooks?  She betrays the liberal confidence in abolishing greed and other evidences of Original Sin, looking to government, in this case the courts, to supply a magic bullet.  But greed we have always with us — it goes with free will — and we had best keep our prosecutorial powder dry.  The crooks won’t stop coming.

Same page, same day, sister columnist Bonnie Erbe unfortunately states that the runaway bride was spooked by the big wedding coming up.  She did the “manly” thing and left town (eventually telling cops untrue stories about being abducted) to be free of this “stressful” situation.  Sillie Bonnie turns to “our own flawed culture and values” — consumerism and all that — and says we “should ponder those societal pressures that caused her to act so selfishly and carelessly” and “how we may have contributed to those pressures on her”!  Yes!  We made her do it!  There goes free will again.  If we could only change society — a grand goal, is it not? — we could prevent such behavior.  And while we’re at it, let’s stop global warming too.