I've seen this mentioned briefly in comments a while back, don't remember by whom, but the point seems to have disappeared in the current Hastert discussions: how did a small-town high-school wrestling coach turned congressman reach a position where he can has 3.5 million dollars in liquidity to pay off a victim in order to protect his prestige?
So I think there are a few issues here. A citizen sexually abusing another citizen (a human being harming another human being, ok multiple human beings more likely). A public servant violating the most basic principle of public service, which is not just serving the public but also not harming fellow citizens--which one would assume would include the particular of not harming citizens in the most intimate and direct way possible without killing them: touching their genitals without an invitation or without them being of an age where they can extend that invitation reasonably. And, lastly, how our congress is a gravy train that brings immense personal profit to election winners, transforming them from whatever they were before into millionaires by the end of their public careers. To be in a position to pay 3.5 million dollars in hush money means there are other Hastert financial resources intact that support a lifestyle we now consider normal for "leaders," even if it turns out that the main project they've been "leading" all along is the feathering of their own nests.
I would suggest that Hastert's finances merit a more thorough look. And as a bonus, since Hastert will not be found to have done anything outside the mainstream, he's obviously not that bright and ultimately a follower, looking at the finances of all civil servants, starting with elected representatives, to detect irregular, unethical, illegal, immoral accumulations of wealth and lucrative conflicts of interest. Corruption is a hot worldwide concern, along with and related to inequality and poor governance, and we should be working to ferret it out in our own system. Maybe our news media could help with that. It's staring us in the face.
Let's not forget that discussion.
