So some rich people have been caught doing some bad, bad things. Everybody is outraged. How dare they try to make an unfair playing field for their children to enter into certain institutions of higher learning.
Seriously? Have we not been paying attention to America for the past 200 years? We are a nation not of meritocracy, and never have been. Instead, we are a nation who have promoted the children of the rich and the powerful above all else. While we may say we don't like this, we don't really want the system to change...because what happens when we are in the same situation?
Let's say my son, who is really good in math in elementary school, had the option of two teachers next year. One is OKAY. The other teacher may be one of the best in the business. Would I slip the middle school principal a $50 to ensure that he got in with the good teacher? I'd like to think of myself as a good, moral person...but I might.
As parents we feel an overwhelming parental obligation to provide the best possible starting place for our kids. Whether it's getting them into good preschools, or working hard to ensure they have the money to go to a good college, or ensuring that our nimrod children get security clearances from the White House even as they still pursue their own interests....this is what we who are parents do for our children. For all the outrage that has gone into this current story, I'm guessing deep down many of us are looking at Lori Laughlin, Felicity Huffman, and these other parents with a little bit of sympathy. They got caught doing something illegal, to be sure...but many of us do things all the time that are little better.
I suppose that this story has touched a nerve that might be a tipping point about how we view the rich and the powerful. But most likely this story will soon fade away. We'll return to the high crimes and misdemeanors of the President, we'll obsess about which starlet is sleeping with which co-star, and we'll soon be transfixed on what nation is getting ready to go to war against another nation.
Until we go to true lottery system in which every possibility about advantage is considered (and even then, bribes will still ensure that some kids bypass the system), these kinds of things will continue to be what our nation and our culture are about. Privilege has its price, and that price is gladly paid everyday. Maybe you can't cross certain lines, but the children of the wealthy and the powerful will always have their advantages, righteous or not.
