Bad Things Happen to Bad People

In terms of "you reap what you sow," I'm not sold that good actions lead to good outcomes. (Separately, I believe that good actions are their own reward, but that's another post.)

Lived experience tells me that bad actions lead to their logical consequences. 

In time, though. The length of time can be brutal for the cause of justice. 

But you get what's coming to you - in spades. Take Bernie Madoff. He made a ton of money ripping off investors in a ponzi scheme. He's now spending the rest of the his life in prison. His name is synonymous with fraud. His son committed suicide. 

There are so many things money doesn't cure. 

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Mitch McConnell, the senator from Kentucky and majority leader, doesn't seem to be motivated by money, at least not greed at the level where it causes one's downfall. 

I suppose his drug of choice is power, though like many opiates, varieties abound. 

From The Huffington Post:

“All these guys are ruthless, but he just takes it to another level,” said Jim Manley, a former top aide to McConnell’s foe, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “I defy you to find anything the guy stands for, except for partisanship. He’s ruthless in that he has no core positions.”

This approach, so far, has its benefits.

Two months after McConnell tamped down talk of going public about Russian hackers hurting Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Trump won. Life has since been quite good for the Kentucky Republican: His wife, Elaine Chao, was picked as Trump’s transportation secretary, and McConnell retained his post as Senate majority leader, meaning he will shape the nation’s legislative agenda for the next four years.

McConnell's ruthlessness has been around for a while.

There was the also time in 1990 when McConnell smeared his Senate challenger, Harvey Sloane ― a wealthy New Englander who walked away from a life of privilege to become a doctor for the poor in Kentucky ― by casting him as a prescription fraudster. They were in a tight race, so McConnell leaked to the press that Sloane had used an expired Drug Enforcement Administration registration number to prescribe himself sleeping pills to help with pain from hip replacement surgery. The state’s medical licensure board chided Sloane for doing so, but said no formal sanctions were warranted. But McConnell still moved forward with brutal ads featuring images of vials and pills, and a narrator describing Sloane’s penchant for prescribing “powerful depressants” for himself as “double the safe dose without a legal permit.”

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McConnell has not yet met his comeuppance. It's conceivable that he dies before that happens. 

However, let's take an early look at the obituary:

- He'll be remembered as one of the architects of an era of brutal partisanship. 

- No major legislation bears his name. Neither liberty nor the public welfare was advanced in his name. 

- His protégés? Mostly K-street lobbyists and political operatives. 

- Finally, he will be remembered for his key role in helping Donald Trump become president. Specifically, he torpedoed making public the extent of the role Russia's psy ops campaign against Hillary Clinton. 

I am reasonably confident that history will not look kindly upon this.