March 2008 Ethics Dunces

Tony Kornheiser

Tony Kornheiser has risen from being a humor columnist in the Washington Post to being a national cable television and radio sports personality. He was even the inspiration for a character played by "Seinfeld's" Jason Alexander in a short-lived sit-com. Kornheiser's obviously a smart guy, so it was especially upsetting to hear him grab an Ethics Dunce cap by declaring on a Washington DC sports show that Roger Clemens shouldn't be prosecuted for perjury because "This country doesn't benefit by putting him in jail." He later applied the same argument to Barry Bonds and disgraced Olympian sprinter Marion Jones.

Stupid statements made by famous and clever people on television---and Kornheiser's statement was stunningly dumb ---are damaging beyond their content, because millions of not-so-smart people accept them as revelations by educated and credible "experts." That is how ethically-corroding ideas seep into the culture, where they can undermine values and conduct.

The criteria for putting people in a democracy's prisons is not whether or not having a particular individual locked away is "good for the country." It's easy to list hundreds of prominent people who, as Ko-Ko sings in "The Mikado," "never would be missed." Let's see…Howard Stern…Nicole Ritchie…Donald Trump…Louis Farrakhan…Michael Savage…Larry Flynt…oh, heck! There are whole categories of people who we could put away and make the country happier, more civil and more civilized: reality show producers, gangsta rappers, pornographers, incompetent teachers, insincere politicians, biased journalists, greedy corporate executives. Telemarketers and bill-collectors. Panhandlers. Registered sex offenders. "Intelligent design" advocates. Lousy drivers. But you see, Tony, places that lock people away according to someone's judgement that their absence would be "good for the country" are called dictatorships. In a democracy, which is what the United States aspires to be, jail is both a punishment for breaking the law and a disincentive to those who might consider breaking it. And a society's decision that certain conduct is deserving of jail time is one important way that society states its values clearly.

Kornheiser's partner on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," Michael Wilbon, slammed his foot into his mouth by proclaiming Kornheiser's ethics gaffe "a good point." The implications of this good point, if put into practice, would be that we would permit crimes and misconduct to go unpunished in direct proportion to an individual's value to society. This is clearly the way Roger Clemens thinks it should work, judging from his many statements to the effect that his contributions to his sport should have earned him better treatment. But it doesn't work that way, and shouldn't. Perjury by Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds or Marion Jones, like lying by Scooter Libby and Martha Stewart, needs to be punished, not merely as rigorously as the same crime committed by an unemployed wastrel, but more vigorously. There are two reasons for imposing a higher standard. First, these people are high- profile leaders and role models, and when they misbehave, it risks making their bad conduct appear to be acceptable. The imposition of strict punishment reminds everyone that it isn't. Second, people with wealth, fame and privilege are too prone to think like Clemens and Kornheiser. Tough punishment helps teach them not to.

So Kornheiser's statement is not merely philosophically wrong; it's also factually wrong. If he really did perjure himself, America is better off with Roger Clemens in jail. It is better off because it will be demonstrating that this is a democracy, where what you do, not who you are or what you may have accomplished in the past, determines what your punishment is under the law.