(From September 2009)
Absolute Power Corrupts
Absolutely
A
Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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“I cannot accept, your canon that we are to judge pope
and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong.
If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power ...
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”… Lord Acton
What will it take to convince Americans that the
people we place in office ought to be of high moral character? I no longer think it is even possible. I no
longer think Americans even care… as evidenced by the results of the
presidential election, and numerous congressional elections, and even state and
local elections around the country just last year.
We have become so accustomed to self serving,
double-dealing, dishonest, greedy, callous, crafty, deceitful, duplicitous
politicians that we now accept it as “normal”. What that says about
Americans, as a people, is absolutely shameful.
What it says about the future of America is terrifying!
I dare say ancient Rome was not as corrupt as America is
today. We have managed to dumb down our populace, the voter base, the
electorate, concerning what is expected of public servants, until we think
nothing of electing to public office people of such low morals they ought not
be allowed IN public, let alone serve in
a public office. Nowadays, the use of
the phrase “choosing the lesser of two evils,” when describing our
choice of candidates, is in regular use… and we don’t even raise an
eyebrow. Why? Because it is true!
James L. Buckley once said: ” What
people fail to appreciate is that the currency of corruption in elective office
is, not money, but votes.” He was spot on!
I am not surprised at the corruption of our
politicians. How could I be? How could YOU be? It is we
who elected them. It is we,
the people of America, who bear the shame and the guilt for placing these
people of low repute in offices that good men fought, bled, and died on foreign
and domestic battlefields to secure for us.
Do we not understand that we have disgraced our heritage? Do we not understand that we have brought
shame upon our ancestors, upon our forefathers, upon The Founders of this
nation, and… upon ourselves for not being good citizens and good
stewards of this priceless jewel of a country?
Too long have we abrogated our singular duty to study the
foundations of this country, the constitution of this country, the
legal/judiciary system of this country, and, just as important, the government
of this country, and… the way that government was intended to operate. We haven’t done any of this.
Our public education system has failed, utterly,
in educating our young about their heritage as Americans. It has failed at instilling pride in our
young as Americans. The angry
cries of “nationalism” have drowned out “patriotism” until one is frowned upon
for any public display of pride in America. There is something intrinsically wrong
about that! In modern day America education has been devalued while ignorance
is celebrated… even unto the voting booth! It is revolting!
Yes, I am angry. It
is an anger born of frustration.
I am frustrated with my fellow Americans who absolutely refused
to see that substance does trump style every time. The percentage of the electorate who voted to
place a man in office, primarily because of the color of his skin and,
secondly, his eloquent way with words, have done America a huge
disservice. The cost is going
to be monumental, biblical, even.
One of the great men of the American Revolution, Samuel
Adams, said this: “The liberties of our
country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all
hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have
received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased
them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and
transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting
mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should
suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be
cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.”
I
would draw your attention to the last portion of the last sentence above: “…
or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.” THAT is precisely
where we find ourselves in America today.
And we have no one, no one, to blame… but ourselves.
Are you ready for the years, immediately ahead, with
tailgating scandals and stories of corruption and graft and the peccadilloes of
powerful men unable to restrain themselves when let lose on an ignorant
populace? You’d better be - for I am mighty
afraid that is exactly where we are heading.
The political shenanigans in Washington, to which we have,
unfortunately, become accustomed, are, I’m afraid, only the tip of a vastly
underestimated iceberg of such conduct.
America’s ship of state is sailing directly into that iceberg.
J. D. Longstreet
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