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July 06, 2006

Irresponsible?

Honestly, I enjoy watching a good conspiracy theory play itself out as much as the next fellow. I don't need to believe it; in fact it's usually more fun if I don't. I just find it interesting to watch how it takes root and puts out tendrils among people who might otherwise never consider themselves "conspiracy theorists." I'll even go so far to say that, as a "buff," I miss the Silver Age of conspiracy theory in the mid-1990s, when "The X-Files" was at the top of its game, and there were a half-dozen other TV series built around the idea of secret, panoptic government agencies directing our lives from behind walnut-paneled doors.

But there are limits.

Back before she had replaced Ronald Reagan with George W. Bush as the object of her Electra complex issues, GOP speechwriter-turned-GOP-hack Peggy Noonan once wrote the following, with respect to the activities of the Clinton administration on a particular issue:

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

(Bonus points to PK readers if they can correctly identify which absurd, over-hyped, and soon-forgotten incident the quote is in connection with.)

My attitude toward the current administration is rather the opposite. I don't feel a proud obligation to imagine the worst about the Bush White House and the GOP-controlled Congress; instead, I am sad and angry that imagining the worst about them takes so much less effort than assuming they are acting in good faith about anything.

As a case in point: Remember this scene from 'The Godfather, Part II," in which Tom Hagen, the Godfather's consigliere, visits Frank Pentangeli in federal prison after the latter recanted his testimony before the Senate organized crime hearings?

Tom Hagen: When a plot against the Emperor failed... the plotters were always given a chance... to let their families keep their fortunes. Right?

Frank Pentangeli: Yeah, but only the rich guys, Tom. The little guys got knocked off and all their estates went to the Emperors. Unless they went home and killed themselves, then nothing happened. And the families... the families were taken care of.

Tom Hagen: That was a good break. A nice deal.

Frank Pentangeli: Yeah... They went home... and sat in a hot bath... opened up their veins... and bled to death... and sometimes they had a little party before they did it. [They shake hands.]

Tom Hagen: Don't worry about anything, Frankie Five-Angels.

[A couple of scenes later, Frank Pentangeli is discovered by the federal agents assigned to protect him, dead in his bathtub, his wrists slashed.]

Now consider this item from this morning's New York Times:

In yet another bizarre twist to the Enron saga, the sudden death of Kenneth L. Lay on Wednesday may have spared his survivors financial ruin. Mr. Lay's death effectively voids the guilty verdict against him, temporarily thwarting the federal government's efforts to seize his remaining real estate and financial assets, legal experts say.

"The death of Mr. Lay in all likelihood will render the government's hard-fought victory null," said Christopher Bebel, a former federal prosecutor based here who specializes in securities fraud.

For the record, no--I don't believe that Lay killed himself (or was killed) in some kind of plot to silence him permanently in exchange for the protection of his family. And since Noonan only feels it's irresponsible not to speculate about the Clinton administration, we can comfortably assume that she won't be promoting this conspiracy theory either.

But what I resent--what I really resent--is that this bunch is so corrupt, so arrogant, so lawless, so cavalier with life when it's someone else's, that they make such a line of thinking come to mind effortlessly, unbeckoned, while the more sober thought that, no, on balance they probably didn't arrange the death of a former friend and ally for their short term political advantage is a realization that takes a certain effort of will to get to.

Posted by Nothstine at July 6, 2006 02:28 PM