Justice needs glasses

This morning the radio told me that Peg Lautenschlager, the incumbent Attorney General for Wisconin, has lost out in the Democratic primaries for re-election to the post. Which of course means that she will not get to contest the election for the post of Attorney General the next time around. She was beaten by Ms. Kathleen Falk, who will run instead as the Democratic nominee.

Why is this important to anybody but a Wisconsiner? Because sometimes, despite all its systemic flaws and despite the counter-examples of G.W. Bush and Sonia Gandhi, it is nice to see democratic popular opinion doing something useful.

Wisconsin Attorney Genereal Peg Lautenschlager was arrested in Februrary of 2006 on a DUI charge. She was driving under the influence of alchol and drove her car off the road. Her Blood Alcohol Level at the time of the arrest was 0.12 percent, which is 0.04 percent more than the Wisconsin legal limit of 0.08 percent. The 0.12 percent number is indicative of two to three drinks.

So she was not wanted any more.

Her opponent ran TV ads against her and brought up the DUI incident. People responded by rejecting her nomination. Ms. Lautenschlager herself admitted in her farewall address that the DUI was one of the worst mistakes of her life.

Now was this too harsh a fallout for such an offence? Maybe. But at least the action-reaction mechanism--which makes democratic process what it is--was alive and vibrant. If perhaps a little too responsive to the touch for some tastes.

In the final analysis, what exactly does Ms. Lautenschlager stand charged of? She did not run over and kill homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk. Her husband did not accept massive kickbacks in a fodder or a defence scam. She, to put it simply, drove into a ditch. But that, it appears, was enough to see the wrong side of the door.

I was born in what is sometimes fondly called the largest democracy in the world, by those who confuse quality with quantity. And that is why this bit of election justice struck a chord in me. B flat minor, to be precise.

I set about thinking. I set about thinking that this is exactly how things work in India!

Like how about when that time in India when that politician swindled all that scratch from a Swiss company and the voters humped his happiness.

No wait, that didn't happen...

Okay, how about this?

How about that time in India when that Admiral's grandson in his BMW, drove drunk and killed people and then was packed off to jail for a long long long time.

No wait, that didn't happen either...

*scratches head*

Let's see...how about when that talentless sonofabitch loser cunt of an actor named Salman Khan got upset that an actress thought his dick was too small, got piss-drunk and mowed down several homeless people in his jeep and the people of India responded by refusing to see his crappy movies.

No wait...

Never mind.