Gordon Gekko in the famous movie Wall Street said, “Greed is good.” As with greed, humans are saddled with shame on occasion. But that’s not always a bad thing. Like greed, I suppose, sometimes “shame is good.” Shame keeps us from doing bad/sleezy things. But increasingly, we’re seeing people carry on as if shame is no longer in their internal equations. Nowhere is this more true than in politics. Let’s look at some recent Show-Me examples:
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, fresh off his push for a “code of ethics” among County employees, finds no shame in hiring the son of his former chief of staff, John Temporiti. Despite the County’s supposed “hiring freeze”, 27-year old Mike Temporiti landed a $70,000 job with the county. Should Mr. Dooley feel shame? Ah, the shameful-devil appears in the shameful-details: