Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Have you ever heard somebody say, "if it's not hurting me, then why should I care?" There are a number of ways to justify personally destructive choices and a number of reasons why not to get involved with somebody's bad decisions. But we're learning a hard lesson that personal choices often have public consequences.  A case in point was a recent story out of Green County where a local attorney embezzled over $1.6 million from his clients to feed his gambling habit. One client was defrauded of some $400,000. This choice obviously impacted his clients who were depending on that money. But it also impacted their families and the others who were depending on the payments of bills. So yes, personal choices do have public consequences, especially when those choices are rooted in vice.