In 1994, Oliver North ran for Congress on the slogan Character Counts, comparing his personal suffering at the hands of Congress to the suffering of Jesus (you know, that guy who got crucified).

Having risen from the dead, North now is a conservative talk show host and cash cow, ostensibly based on his self-proclaimed character (and possibly his position as a modern-day messiah). In the spirit of bipartisanship, Ollie has been invited to speak at SIUC, for a substantial fee, very likely on issues relating to patriotism and All-American values. Is this a person qualified for such a job? A judge in Virginia didn’t think so. He denied North the right to renew his concealed weapons license on the ground that the applicant is not of good character.

Here’s a quick reminder on who North is. In the mid-1980s, he and some cronies thought it would be a neat idea to sell arms to Iran in exchange for hostages, funneling off some profits and secretly funding a war in Nicaragua. The vehicle used for this project was the Enterprise, a privately run, for-profit organization Ollie did not want to be bothered with government meddling. Of course, the planes used to supply the Contras were also used by drug dealers to ship cocaine. North denied knowledge of this, but his own journal showed that, in actuality, he did suspect that drugs were shipped on the planes. In Ollie’s eyes, helping drug dealers was just a price of personal war.

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North’s actions were undertaken on the idea that democratic means can be circumvented to achieve democratic ends. I know there is a paradox there somewhere. North went before Congress and admitted that he lied to them and that he shredded documents relating to Iran-Contra. He was convicted for these two actions and for accepting an illegal gratuity. Later, North was acquitted not because he was innocent, but on a technicality. Now, he pretends to have never done exactly what it was that he admitted to having done.

To justify his actions, North claimed that the actions in Nicaragua needed to be kept secret. At the same time, he admitted that our enemies knew what was happening. Then from whom was he trying to hide the truth? That only leaves the people of the United States. Oliver North represents a danger to democracy because he thinks that actions should be taken in the name of the U.S. people without their approval or even their knowledge.

I have heard people say, So what if North lied and broke the law? He did what was right. OK, let’s look at what he did.

First of all, North and the Enterprise put the lives of American hostages in danger by excessively marking up the prices on arms sold to Iran by 400 percent. Second, the Enterprise was profit-driven, with the people involved gaining financial rewards in the deal. Third, the Contra rebels were not an indigenous force in Nicaragua, but a military force created by U.S. government funding. Fourth, the Contras used terror tactics against the peasants of Nicaragua (you know, the people they were trying to liberate) to pressure the Sandanistas.

North would be an non-entity with Iran-Contra.

Based on this claim to fame, North certainly represents a strange set of American values:namely greed, deception and government possibly for the people but certainly not by the people. He has amassed a personal fortune out of the events of Iran-Contra, claiming to be something he is not:namely a good man and a hero.

I will not try to define what a hero is, but I know when I see someone who is not. Heroes don’t lie for personal gain or to protect themselves, and heroes certainly do not take their cut off the top.

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