This just came across the AP:
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The mayors of two New Jersey cities and a state legislator are under arrest Thursday as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe.
Federal prosecutors say about 30 people have been arrested. They include Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini. Federal prosecutors say several rabbis in New York and New Jersey are also arrested. One congregant says a synagogue in New Jersey has been raided.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has fought corruption in New Jersey’s largest city, says it’s “an unbelievable morning so far.”
A congregant of a synagogue in Deal, N.J., says he was praying Thursday morning when FBI agents entered. Mike Winnick says the agents also removed boxes from the Deal Yeshiva.
I don’t know if I am saddened by:
- This being just the tip of the iceberg
- The incident itself
- That it will not make much news, and be forgotten by next week
Are these people any less “greedy” and “self-interested” than the rest of society? I thought our public officials were noble and supposed to act in our interest? If lefties want to construct monstrous straw man indicting the greed and avarice of “capitalism” it would be nice if they would pay attention to what happens in the political system and recognize that the beauty of voluntary exchange and capitalism is NOT that is in and of itself virtuous, but rather it serves as the best institutional check on the greed and avarice that is endemic in human beings. To rely on enlighted, disinterested political actors rather than the unrelenting force of competition is, shall I say, silly.
UPDATE: And just minutes later, this story comes too. Why should we expect honesty and transparency? I recall something in the Constitution about ex post facto laws. The feds have been doing this with payroll taxes for decades, and no one seems to care.
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