In case after case, we see members of Congress insisting that the rules that apply to everyone else shouldn’t apply to themselves. The word that keeps applying to these lawmakers’ decisions and behavior is contempt — contempt for the law, the rules, their colleagues, their constituents, and for the public at large. It’s as if these lawmakers see the rising smoke from a populist prairie fire and choose to irrigate the landscape with gasoline.* …

We keep getting this message: “I’m an elected official, therefore, the rules don’t apply to me.”

Getting elected to Congress doesn’t make you royalty or an aristocrat or a Hollywood star or a CEO or a pro athlete. Your special privilege is the work, and a role in legislating the laws.

[I’d add another word: Impunity. Over and over again, none of the miscreants in these examples are held accountable for their contemptuous disregard for rules and laws. When we don’t enforce those norms, all of the others end up falling along with them. — Ed]