I needed to go to the food store to pick up a prescription and bottled water. When I saw my favorite bourbon on sale, the two things on my list turned into three.
I grabbed a couple of bottles, thinking that after a good week of pain management, I’d treat myself.
When I worked towards the self-checkout, I flashed the bourbon to the pleasant young man so he knew to ID me. Since he was too young, he sought older help to scan my alcohol. After scanning the first bottle and my ID, I paid my bill.
After my receipt printed out, I stared at the amount I paid and realized I had scanned only a single bottle; the second one remained in my cart. For a moment, not even a second, more like the flicker of a shadow, I thought, “I could just walk.” Nobody was watching, I wasn’t stealing a car or hacking a bank. It was one beep less from an unscanned bourbon.
That moment didn’t last because my conscience didn’t care about the dollar amount; it cared only about the principle. I waved Alex over, one of the guys working at the food store that I’ve known for a long time. I told him I didn’t scan both bottles. At first, though, he thought I was kidding.
Then, he smiled after he looked at the receipt.
He knew the temptation I felt because of his reaction, “Knowing you, your conscience would’ve kicked in before you reached the doors.”
He was 100% right; I told him I wasn’t able to leave the kiosk — not because I would’ve been caught, but I would KNOW.
The Hidden Battle No One Sees
It’s only been a couple of hours, but that little moment has stayed with me, not because I deserve a medal for honesty, but because it is a prime example of how fast we lie to ourselves when nobody is watching. That moment, where you decide to turn left or right, is the defining moment for your soul.
I’ve always defined character as what you do when nobody is watching. It’s also the exact moment where too many politicians, institutions, nonprofits, and programs worth billions fail. Not only once, but repeatedly, but not with bourbon, with hundreds of billions.
Bob Menendez: The Gold-Bar Senator
We have a real-world example of recent vintage, showing how low the conscience can go. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is the poster child for greed. Recently, the senator served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but prioritized his own interests over those of the country.
Menendez was convicted of accepting bribes, or in Godfather II parlance, wetting his beak, in exchange for political favors. Bribery wasn’t enough for Bob; he also interfered with criminal investigations, protected an ally by pressuring federal agriculture regulators, and went King Tut: Using his leverage to benefit Egyptian interests.
Menendez didn’t work for free. He received cash, a luxury car, mortgage payments, and actual gold bars, which would make Captain Jack Sparrow envious.
Nearly half a million in cash was found by prosecutors, stuffed in clothing, closets, and envelopes hidden in his New Jersey home. Being tech-savvy, Menendez actually Googled, “How much is one kilo of gold worth?”
Bob wasn’t just corrupt; he had a couple of brass ones, where his attitude displays a “Yeah, I did it. Whatchya gonna do about it?” He maintained that attitude even after conviction, refusing to resign for several weeks until August 2024. Before stepping down, he stood behind a microphone, claiming that he had been unfairly targeted. Despite having bricks of gold hidden throughout his house, he managed to convince himself that HE was the victim.
If Bob Menendez found himself in my position, there would’ve been zero hesitation. He would’ve pocketed the bottle, scanner, the entire register, and the groceries belonging to the person behind him, all the while blaming the store for having such terrible temptation within his reach.
Haiti and the Clinton Foundation: The Illusion of Aid
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was horrific, and global aid of over $13 billion was pledged. Front and center, the Clinton Foundation stepped in, cutting ribbons, making announcements, holding hands, and wearing colorful hard hats for photo ops.
But what happened to the money?
We can start with the people of Haiti, asking them about the Caracol Industrial Park, which, if you recall, was intended to create 60,000 jobs, yet has generated only a fraction of them. We also need to ask them why a particular person ended up on the board of a gold mining company, one that received one of the only permits in decades. Who was it? Hillary’s brother.
Other important questions to consider: Where are the housing projects located, how many clinics have been built, and what about access to clean water?
That money didn’t vanish like smoke on a windy day. There were numerous layers of nonprofits, administrative overhead, and friendly contractors, so that by the time it came to pay for recovery efforts, the original purpose was forgotten. It was more than theft; it was a moral sleight of hand.
Nobody who knew the score ever called the cashier over to check the receipt.
Feeding Our Future: Pandemic Plunder in Minnesota
A nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future received federal funding during the COVID era. The goal was to help feed children stuck at home during school closures.
What happened?
The DOJ investigated, discovered, charged, and convicted dozens of people who funneled tens of millions of dollars into fake shell companies using fraudulent invoices and attendance logs.
Some never delivered a meal.
Here’s that moment of a character test: The Minnesota Department of Education discovered and flagged problems in 2018. That’s it: the issue was essentially shoved into a drawer, and nobody wanted to say, “Hey! Something is up.” So, the fraud continued.
A bottle left unscanned.
Solyndra: The $535 Million Echo
Remember Solyndra? In 2009, the Obama administration gave $535 million in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees to the solar panel company. This company was once hailed as the crown jewel of green energy, until it fell into bankruptcy two years later.
What happened was that Solyndra had been hemorrhaging money and had altered financial records to obscure that fact. It didn’t matter because the administration fast-tracked the loan. Later, when emails surfaced, officials were found to be more concerned with the timing of PR than with due diligence. The short movie features the same protagonists we’ve seen in numerous scandals: political favors, cronyism, and a lack of accountability.
Solyndra collapsed, knowing that nobody was watching the scanner.
COVID Relief: Fraud on a Historic Scale
We can’t forget about the motherlode: COVID relief. It was a perfect storm; trillions were spent in haste, while oversight was slashed in the name of urgency. The Labor Department’s Inspector General estimates that unemployment benefits were more than $191 billion, all lost to fraud. I wish that were a typo.
Luxury cars, Rolexes, and crypto investments were paid for PPP loans. A Florida man used relief funds to buy a Lamborghini. California prison inmates received millions. Now, recovering a majority of what was lost is nothing more than a pipe dream.
That’s more than one unscanned bottle: It’s millions.
The Man Who Warned And Was Ignored
Not all scandals were bereft of people with character who spoke out. Harry Markopolos was someone who tried to scan the bottle.
Markopolos was a forensic accountant who discovered the Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff years before it collapsed. he submitted detailed reports to the SEC. From 2000 onward, he was ignored. He told anybody who would listen for nearly a decade, but nobody wanted to see it.
Markopolos wasn’t out for glory; he was the person doing the job that nobody wanted to do. In the end, $64 billion disappeared as quickly as outdoor flatulence on a windy day, leaving the SEC in a state of shock. The truth, however, is that they were handed the receipt many years before.
They chose not to read it.
Final Thoughts: One Moment, or a Million?
So, I stood in front of a self-checkout that was done with me, leaving an unscanned bottle in my cart. Although it was insignificant in size, to me it was massive in meaning, something that separated character from collapse.
Every scandal I’ve shared has been a massive version of my momentary choice. Yet, somebody knew, saw, held the receipt, but chose to remain silent and walk away.
The difference?
I was just holding a bottle of bourbon.
They were holding public trust.
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