Karma

Sometimes, people surprise us. Just a day after the Senate almost unanimously passed a sweeping ethics- and lobbying-reform package that well surpassed not just the Republicans' own paltry attempts at reform but even the Democrats' rather-lofty campaign pledges and the measure railroaded through by Speaker Pelosi (damn, doesn't that feel good to write), disgraced Republican former-Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to 30 months in prison for numerous Abramoff-related ethics violations. For all his power, all his money, all his influence, he couldn't dodge this one—justice, at long last, was served. Kind of makes a jaded seen-it-all New Yorker sit back and say, 'huh'.

Add that to the remarkable nature of the Senate legislation, expanded over the objections of, well, everyone thanks in no small measure to Senators Feingold (D-WI) and Obama (D-IL), and things really start looking funny. What's a conspiracy-theorist to do when they bar up all the smoke-filled rooms? If you can't mistrust a lobbyist (restrained now from giving gifts, private air-flight, or anonymously fund-raising for legislators), who can you?

Obviously no reform is perfect, and there's certainly a lot more to be done - publicly financed elections, anyone? - but at least for this afternoon, I've got to tell ya - the system worked. Democrats, with their mandate for change, actually brought about change, even at the expense of their own reelection efforts. God-willing thanks to their efforts we won't see another Bob Ney polluting Capitol Hill any time soon. And that, to me at least, seems to justify a nice, long, contemplative 'huh'.