As we distance ourselves from the particular event of a political suicide, we must strive to learn something from this history. In Eco's conception, exclusive responsibility cannot be foisted onto to a Gardini or a Cagliari. When it is possible to see through to a more malignant crisis, as the Tangentopoli in Italy, the whole national psyche must be shook into a greater self-awareness.

Foster's note now confronts America as something larger, something more flagrantly unsavory. In the 27 torn pieces of his final statement, a fragmented idealism emerges. The note exposes an individual whose integrity has been polluted.

In Foster and his despair, I would like to find a troubled lawyer. I want to find a weak character not built to weather the cold political life in the capital, and to write off a world in which intrigue extends to the very upholstery in the White House.

Otherwise, what might be revealed is a character untainted himself in wrongdoing like the incarcerated Cagliari, or even implicated in mispolitics like Gardini, but who was broken in a few months by the soil of a political landscape few cold ever imagine. Perhaps it it time to re-examine my own perspective.

In the 27 pieces of Foster's final statement, a fragmented idealism emerges. The note shows an individual whose integrity has been polluted.

In this sense, the self-inflicted death performs a social function. When corruption reaches self-destruction, the public must recognize a greater malady, a national sickness, and renew its ethics.