Nuts

A couple decades ago a peanut farmer from Georgia was elected President of the United States. I don't think that would be as easy now. Peanuts, that all-American food, are suffering an image problem. It is only one peanut butter producer that has contaminated food, but an uneasy public is busy checking labels to avoid contracting a deadly disease. Most brands including Skippy are safe.
We have associated peanuts with baseball games and healthy snacks. Peanut butter is synonymous with kid's lunches. Peanut butter is a staple food in our pantries and an inexpensive protein source. Americans have been known to carry a jar of peanut butter in their suitcases when traveling to exotic places--comfort food when the local cuisine overwhelms them. We indulge in chocolate covered peanuts and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and tell ourselves this is a healthier choice. Just when we are anguishing over our depleted 401K accounts we are hit with a peanut butter disaster.
Yesterday we watched coverage of senate hearings concerning the actions of those responsible for distributing the contaminated food. Instead of answering the senators' questions the guy invoked the fifth amendment.
Who would have every imagined the CEO of a Georgia peanut butter company would be taking the Fifth Amendment like a Chicago gangster in Senate hearings? To me, claiming the Fifth Amendment seems less respectable than claiming our First or Second Amendment rights. A journalist claiming a right to free speech often seems valorous. An individual claiming a right to bear arms equates as patriotic to some, but claiming the right not to self-incriminate is perceived as being guilty and "lawyered up" by most of us.
I don't mean to denigrate the seriousness of the accusation that the peanut butter company knowingly peddled deadly food and people died. That would be an unthinkable thing to do. I just wonder who has caused the most mayhem to our society, they financiers who stole our money and ruined our economy or the guy who brought down peanut butter?
This situation is harder for me because the accused CEO has the same last name as my mom.