This week has seen the "nationalization" of Rod Blagojevich hate - something Illinois residents have come to expect. Rod now is the poster-boy for all the vices, but mainly "hubris" - that oh-so intellectual damnation. It's something Chris Hitchens and Rachael Maddow could agree on.

As we say with burglars or murderers, the accompanying vices of sloth or pride are the 'real' sin - not theft or killing - e.g. "He was a successful burglar - till he got 'lazy' in his method." Or "He was a great serial murderer, but then he became too proud of his murders and spilled the beans."

Right now, Senators from union busting states in the south like Alabama and North Carolina are really making no bones about their desire to smash union labor - and the entire mid-west economy if it comes to it. That an Alabama Senator would crush the Midwest economy in order to do his duty for Mercedes or BMW truly shocks my conscience - but I suppose it is to be expected. These senators will be handsomely rewarded by Chamber of Commerce types for smashing the labor movement.

So Rod's sin was that he was too frank about his horse-trading. But that falls in line with other examples of his "hubris." We've been hearing for years about how Rod refuses to play ball with Illinois' elite families. Dick Mell, his father in law, seemed offended at one time that Rod wouldn't kowtow to him - imagine a city council member who expected to dictate terms to a governor - but that was one of Rod's sins. Another was his refusal to 'play ball' with the Madigan family. Majority leader Mike and his state prosecutor daughter Lisa have certainly benefited from Rod's ouster.

Now as an outsider, I was always puzzled at why the Governor was expected to kowtow to a city councilman, or why we outsiders were expected to pity poor, poor Mike Madigan.

Personally, what do I care about the hurt feelings of elites? Mike Madigan - a Democrat - had resisted the imposition of Rod's signature accomplishment "Kid Care" - the state sponsored program to insure children with uninsured parents. Similar protests were made by 'reasonable' elites regarding Rod's insistence that senior citizens should get free bus rides in return for state help with the public transit.

Rod refused to be deferential to important families. He refused to accept the "reality" that poor children or seniors that have been kicked out of their cars don't have any "clout." Morality means divvying up the spoils according to who is the highest on the totem pole. Under his predecessor George Ryan, that meant handing a giant bag of money to the liquor concession or mobbed-up gambling interests. George Ryan was making his money on the backs of Secy of State employees - forcing low level employees to sell his fundraising 'tickets' - and that meant they had to trade commercial driver's licenses for money. That resulted in the deaths of children - but hey they weren't Mike Madigan's children - like his daughter Lisa the prosecutor for the state. 

Why can't Rod get behind schemes to massively subsidize gambling, or sports teams? Providing health insurance to poor children is seen as nothing but 'grandstanding' by Illinois elites. How could Rod be as naive as to direct state funds toward the weak and literally infirm? And when Rod starts putting the arm on the strong - well that's truly a sin Illinois elites cannot pardon.