People think, when I suggest that we hang, behead, draw and quarter our politicians and lawyers, that I'm being a little extreme.
I'm not, it's simply that I think when anyone - whether it be a police officer, fireman, Judge or politician, is appointed to public office they have not only the civic duty (like the rest of us) to obey the law, but as well an exemplary duty.
And when, as so often seems to happen, the temptations of a 12 year old girl in a chatroom or hefty bribe prove too much for them to resist, the punishment should be an order of magnitude above and beyond what we'd sentence anyone else to.
The makers and enforcers of the law should be held up to a higher bar than the rest of us. It makes sense.
Yet when I suggest, to those so silly as to solicit my opinion, that we hang, torture, dismember or employ any of a number of other classic and antique methods of public justice to not only punish the miscreants that so abused their position, but to set an example and reinforce public belief that "justice has been served", people think I'm being a little extreme. It's enough that the cop that molested children lost his job, that the politician lost face,....
Of course it's not, and as always we sympathize with the perpetrator and not the victims.
Bringing to mind Brian Mulroney, who's recent role as chief beneficiary in the bribery scandal will never involve jail time or adequate restitution for the money he swindled both from his victim and the citizens of Canada, who so arrogantly sued and won millions of dollars for libel (although he was later proved to have: "broke his own ethics code, engaged in inappropriate behaviour and evaded the truth for years by purposely concealing hefty cash payments"), who has continually cost the taxpayers millions of dollars (and continues to cost us in investigative and settlement fees), where then is the potential for justice here?
There is, of course, none.
But what we could do, should do perhaps, is Tar and Feather them. Only a slightly antique custom, properly North American, we dip them in hot tar, roll them in feathers, and run them out of town. Or in Mulroney's case, out of the country. It gives people at their new destination a "head's up" as to what to expect, it properly expresses our contempt and ridicule, it (small consideration for the liberals) causes no permanent and lasting harm to the victim, sure, a bit of humiliation, but for the million(s) he's cost us I'd happily undergo the ritual...it's something, at least, to get our money's worth. It announces to the world that he's fallen far far short of the already low standards we have for politicians.
This Canada Day lets do something great. Lets tar and feather Brian Mulroney.