Virginia State Sen. Louise Lucas and various family members are in federal custody today, up on charges of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit audit services fraud, and maintaining a drug-involved premises.

In addition to representing the people of the 18th Senate district, Lucas is also president pro tempore, so the first question you might ask about all those charges is where she found the time.

FBI Director Kash Patel said at a press conference today, "As alleged by the Attorney General, Ms. Lucas, for the last nearly five years, accumulated nearly $5 million in ill-gotten gains through her criminal enterprise."

When Lucas was heard in a phone tap calling the (alleged!) criminal enterprise her "last chance at generational wealth," she really meant it:

The Old Dominion lawmaker-turned-lawbreaker (allegedly!) is 82 years old, so any worthwhile sentence would likely be a life sentence. Ironic, given that in an intercepted phone call with an alleged coconspirator earlier this year, Lucas can be heard saying, "I’ve gotten too old to not be greedy."

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Not too young to get busted, either.

And Another Thing: Before even bothering to list the charges, NBC News made sure readers were aware that Lucas is "a frequent critic of President Donald Trump." Because, you know, it's Trump who has his critics arrested for no good reason. Then NBC noted that it's "unusual" to arrest an elected official "just 12 days before a midterm election," even though Lucas isn't even up for reelection this year. And here I was, thinking the unusual thing was a state senator cosplaying a drug kingpin with various family members. Lord, but I do hate the press.

Here are a few more arrest details from this morning's presser.

Lucas surrendered herself to federal authorities, but not before going to social media to cry RAAAAYCISS: "I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back and I’m not stopping now."

Jim Crow was about oppressing innocent blacks. Today's indictments are about putting a stop to a mid-seven-figure criminal enterprise, and holding an elected official and some family members responsible for their (alleged!) crimes. They are not the same.

Now that the gloating is over, allow me to indulge in a wee dram of political philosophy. 

"If Men were angels," James Madison noted in Federalist 51, "no government would be necessary." Two centuries later, Milton Friedman added a criminally underappreciated corollary: "I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing."

Perhaps today's question is how to best reestablish that climate of opinion.

A solid criminal case is a good start, and we've seen similar efforts recently in Minnesota.

Keep at it, Department of Justice — you folks are back to doing some good work again.

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