TO RESPOND TO THESE COMMENTS on my USA Today column on penalties for politicians, let me note that, while I’m in favor of abolishing judicially-created immunities for government officials, that doesn’t mean that I’d oppose similar immunities created by legislation — though, frankly, I doubt that such immunities would pass legislatively. And note the conclusion to my piece, not mentioned in the post:

But the real lesson is this: We entrust an inordinate amount of power to people who don’t feel any pain when we fall down. The best solution of all is to take a lot of that power back. When the power is in your hands, it’s in the hands of someone who feels it when you fall down. When it’s in their hands, it’s your pain, their gain. That’s no way to run a country.

To me, that was the big point.