For those depressed about the corruption scandal in Illinois, where governor Rod Blagojevich was accused of trying to sell Obama's vacant senate seat, putting things in perspective may be helpful.
Blagojevich will be prosecuted and is likely to end up in jail, while the former governor is already doing time for unrelated corruption charges.
The U.S. is no Denmark or New Zealand, but its levels of corruption pale in comparison to neighbors Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil, the ruling party run a scheme paying most congressmen a $12,000 monthly stipend to ensure they voted with the government. No one was arrested and the president's popularity remained unchanged. The Argentinian president was mostly undisturbed by the fact a "businessman" was arrested in Miami carrying a suitcase with $800,000 in illegal donations from the government of Venezuela. The only conviction occurred in U.S. courts.
At least here the bad guys have to worry about going to jail.
