Everybody wants free stuff.

Several politicians have recently come under fire for getting discounted loans from Countrywide Financial. Roland S. Martin has an article about it on cnn.com.

Be honest: How many of you are really shocked to find out that a bunch of Washington insiders were part of a VIP program coordinated by mortgage giant Countrywide Financial?

Right. Corruption in DC, nothing new.

The story was first reported by CondeNast's Portfolio magazine, and everyone else has jumped on it since. Based on what we know, folks like former Housing and Urban Development honcho Alphonso Jackson, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala got favorable loan terms from the mortgage behemoth.

My first reaction was, "Man, these folks are dumb to think they could get away with it!"

Sure. I don't completely agree about the dumb part, but we're still on the same track.

But as I was preparing to go on CNN Tuesday, it dawned on me that if most folks were in the same situation, and it wasn't illegal, they would love to have the hookup!

Right, everybody loves to get free stuff when it's legal. Some people like to get it when it's illegal, like the people on this list. I can't tell you exactly what law was broken here, but I'm pretty sure that if you're a senator or cabinet member and you call up the CEO of a major lending company, and ask for and receive a discounted loan for a saving of tens of thousands of dollars, you've received a major gift and are in violation of federal law and should be kicked out of office and into the slammer.

We are a nation that loves anything VIP. Come on, don't sit there and try to be so righteous. If you had an opportunity to be a part of the program, you would jump at it.

Absolutely. If the head of a Countrywide had called me and said, hey, how about a discounted loan as part of a friend of the CEO program, I probably would have jumped. Because I'm not in the senate and I wouldn't be committing a crime. If I was a senator, I'd like to believe that I would be interested in avoiding the commission of a felony.

OK, fine. Let's do something on a smaller scale. Do you remember when you were in high school and you found out that you had a buddy working at the movie theatre, your first thought had to be, "Cool! I get to get in free!"

You could apply that same response to a girlfriend working at the fast food restaurant. "Uh, oh, free burgers every Friday night!"

Right. We're all just as bad as the senators. We're all bad people. We look up to bad people. Skipping ahead:

Professional athletes? They get the hookup all the time. TV and big-screen stars? Oh, you know they are always getting the preferential treatment.

The difference is, there's nothing Illegal about that VIP treatment. There's no law against bribing and athlete to come into your club, or bribing an actress to wear your designer dress. There's a law against giving gifts to government officials, particularly elected officials.

This is in no way an effort to excuse the behavior of these politicos. They are undoubtedly using their positions as elected officeholders to get something the average Joe can't. But don't average Joe and Jane like it when they also get something by virtue of their connections?

Really it sounds exactly like an effort to excuse the behavior of the aforementioned politicos. Remember: Straw men average Joe and Jane are not senators, and would not have been committing a crime by taking the loan.

Right now, in some small town, suburb or big city, there are star athletes who get free meals and other perks from local establishments for doing well on the field or the court. Should they? According to the rules, no. But how many parents are quick to say, "Oh, no, don't do that. It's just not right"? Again, be honest.

Well, not Reggie Bush's parents.

This is what some call situational ethics. Depending on the situation, and what side of the wall you're on, you might think it's wrong and outlandish to get the VIP treatment. But if you somehow ascend to that VIP class, your philosophy will likely change. Just admit it!

I don't believe human morals are so completely fungible that every single person would commit felonies after being elected to the Senate. I'm quite certain there are senators in Washington who have not accepted this kind of kickback.

Just watch a lot of media folks -- radio talk show hosts, TV pundits, and newspaper columnists -- decry these Washington insiders for getting the hookup, but if you get the truth from them, they'll have to confess that even they have received benefits by virtue of their "celebrity" status.

One last time: Getting VIP treatment as a private citizen is not a crime. Getting VIP treatment as a Senator isn't even a crime, until people start giving you free stuff. If Countrywide gave Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, and the entire Editorial staff of the New York Times discounted loans, it wouldn't be a crime (although it might get some of them in trouble with their employer). Receiving a discounted loan if you are Christopher Dodd, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, that is a crime.

So, before everyone goes off the deep end, just make sure you're not being a hypocrite and judging someone else for something you have accepted or would readily accept if you were also a VIP.

So if you received a free fruit basket once, or if you wish you had received a free fruit basket, don't you dare judge Senators for committing a crime. You're just as bad as they are.