So the Chicago Bears have cut Cedric Benson, after his second run-in with public drunkenness and the cops in the last couple of months.
What's interesting to me about this is that this is Benson's second problem with alcohol and the law in only a short time. A couple of months ago, Benson was hauled off of a boat and arrested for supposedly public drunkenness and scuffling with a police officer. He loudly proclaimed his innocence, claimed he'd done nothing wrong, and got the Bears to stand behind him.
But clearly the Bears also put him on notice; he needed to be on better behavior. And he failed the test; and this second failure leads you to think that, well, maybe Mr. Benson wasn't so innocent the first time, two months ago, either.
See, conservatives should pay attention to stories like this. The great conservatives of the past, such as Russell Kirk or Frank S. Meyer, talked about Big Things like tradition, an organic moral and social order, "prescription", absolutes, and so on. So what does all that stuff mean for average Joes? It means that, in situations such as Cedric Benson's, there is right, and there is wrong. It means that, if you've got a problem, you've got to acknowledge it and deal with it (i.e. alcohol). It means that you can't let your family and your teammates down. It means that, when you've got two strikes against you, one's got to be strong and disciplined, and not let temptation and wrong get the best of you. Some people pass these tests. But others don't. Conservatives can use situations like that of Cedric Benson to teach the real meaning of conservative ideas. We don't do it enough.
