Louisiana Voice

Guest column by Paul Spillman

Author and poet Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” But the modern world shows us that not “everybody” faces the consequences of their choices. At least not in this life. No more obvious example exists than the President of the United States.

The litany of consequences Trump has escaped would take days to write from the bankruptcies and lawsuits he has faced as a private businessman to Jan. 6 to his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein to the slush fund he wants to establish with our tax dollars to pay off criminal cronies and lawbreaking sycophants. And Trump wants even more than escaping consequences. He wants to guarantee he never faces any. The slush fund his corrupt Department of Justice set up for him also includes a provision the IRS will never audit his taxes. The “Republican” party is trying to find ways to give it to him.

Nor are examples confined to Trump or politicians. The uber wealthy routinely buy their way out of consequences. The Sackler family comes to mind. The family owned Purdue Pharmaceuticals and addicted America to Oxycontin with false testing, kickbacks, and lies. But “consequences” for the Sackler family amounted to dissolving the company and paying a $4.5B fine. Did that leave the Sacklers impoverished? Well they have nine years to pay out the fine and are worth more than $11B so none are going hungry anytime soon. Or going to prison.

But consequences still apply for some. Ask Bill Cassidy or Thomas Massie. Ask Calvin Duncan who spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit because of a corrupt prosecutor. Duncan taught himself law, eventually won his release, ran for office and was elected in a landslide. But there are consequences for Duncan – consequences for being a living example of the corruption in the Louisiana judicial system. The Louisiana legislature – on a motion from a West Monroe politician – voted to eliminate Duncan’s New Orleans city office.

Still, for the powerful, for the wealthy, for the connected there are few consequences, if any.

 And recently we had a good example of that right here at home. LSU has hired former head coach Ed Orgeron as a special assistant to head coach Lane Kiffin.

Orgeron led LSU to arguably the greatest season in college football history complete with Heisman winner, undefeated record, and national championship. Every LSU fan will be forever grateful to Ed Orgeron for that season of football. But then it went south. Orgeron seemingly let his success go to his head. He embarrassed himself and LSU with his personal life antics and let the program deteriorate in the process. When he was fired midway through the 2021 season he made a snarky comment about giving him the money and telling him which door to walk out of. By the end of that season LSU football had only 39 scholarship players to field a team with for a bowl game. Post 2019 LSU won a combined eleven football games in two years under Orgeron.

But now Orgeron is back at LSU. Because there are no consequences for the favored, the connected, or your good buddy. Only for the poor saps without power, money, or important friends. Early reactions seem positive from fans. The glory of 2019 still shines bright. If any doubts are raised they are drowned out by pleas for a second chance and redemption. But second chances shouldn’t automatically mean third and fourth chances, too. And redemption can be found out of the spotlight as much as in it. Orgeron was a head coach at Ole Miss, unsuccessfully, and got a second chance at LSU – more of a second chance than he maybe first thought. Les Miles hired him as a defensive line coach but through a series of events most are already familiar with Orgeron was named interim head coach in 2016 and permanently named following that season. Second chances indeed. And redemption on a grand scale. The 2019 season was nothing short of magical, a season for the ages. No one will ever be able to take that from Orgeron. But then came the aftermath and the eventual firing.

In the grand scheme of things LSU hiring Orgeron is less than a drop in a bucket, but so indicative of what ails our modern society. What lessons are learned from examples such as this? Live for yourself. Make selfish choices. Hurt people. Cause financial harm. Leave with the money and some snark. But don’t worry. In a few years we’ll all act like it never happened. There’s no need to fret over a lack of morals or ethics. No need to reward honesty or punish dishonesty. It’s all about maxing out your own desires in the right-here-and-right-now. And those who are successful are celebrated, even elected president. They are certainly rewarded with endless opportunity to do it all again. In politics, in business, in sports. In all aspects of modern life.

And what of the rest of us. Those without power, money or connected friends? For the rest of us cynicism sets in. We begin to accept it all as normal, not something we can do anything about. Hope for the future becomes a victim of the times. A sense of helplessness, even despair, slowly becomes the norm. We feel defeated. There is something inherently wrong with escaping the consequences of your choices and each of us feels it in our bones. It offends us on a cellular level. If there are no consequences then selfishness is the only worthy pursuit. But consequences should be absolute. Redemption can be possible. But reward and celebration should follow redemption, not follow the absence of consequences.

Perhaps Orgeron seeks redemption at LSU. Or maybe he just wants a stepping stone back into coaching. Either way his good buddy Lane Kiffin is helping him out. Anyone at LSU who might have objected has been sent packing. And if it doesn’t work out Orgeron still has that $13 million buyout. He’s not going hungry anytime soon, either. Because that’s just the way the world turns in 2026.