Populists Scruggs, Spitzer, Dann - Can We Save Them From Themselves

This week's THE NEW YORKER has an unusually objective profile of disgraced populist attorney Dickie Scruggs. By Peter J. Boyer, it chronicles Scruggs' journey from creative reformer lawyer to one who was caught trying to bribe a judge.  And we know that other populist attorneys, ranging from Eliot Spitzer to Marc Dann, also started out with noble intentions.  Then they fell from grace with a thud.

How can we as a society prevent virtue from imploding? 

Should we restrict the reformers' term of activism to, say, five years?  Nobility of purpose perhaps cannot be sustained in its pure form.

Should we escalate monitoring every aspect of their professional lives as they achieve more of their goals? Obviously, somewhere along the line they became high on their success.  That heady state could have lead to a sense of entitlement.  As we know, it's that assumption that "I'm entitled" which brings down not only reformers but even lowlife drunks.  The rooms of 12-step programs are jam-packed with the entitled.

Or, maybe we should give some life education to the young about the dark side of our natures.  That might make them appropriately wary of the too-noble man or woman. 

Liberalism, which has returned in the form of the 2nd counterculture, tossed out the Shakespearean notion of man cankered in the grain and the Roman Catholic idea of original sin.  Liberals tend to revere the essential goodness of mankind.  It's those awful institutions which corrupt human beings.  It might be time that we brought back Shakespeare and Catholic teachings about human weaknesses. 

Comments

[Marler]

Reformers Beware

Marler's advise on how to avoid pitfalls (pratfalls):

1. Remember, it is not about you.
2. Remember, it is about the client or the cause.
3. Remember, it is not about the money.