Political Commentary

As one looks on the political scene today, one cannot help but feel sadness, anger, and apprehension over the fact that, to a great extent, politics has descended into an abyss of anger, insult, bickering, and partisan warfare which has largely rendered Congress dysfunctional. Great concern over what this bodes for the nation’s future, particularly when the nation faces threats and problems perhaps greater than at any other time in its history, is common among the citizenry. The nation desperately needs Godly leadership that is united in facing these threats and solving these problems, ranging the gamut of national security, war, terrorism, economic issues, social issues, energy, immigration, and environment. Yet, the battle lines are drawn, the partisan warfare goes on, and the crucial issues facing the country are given a back seat to politics and the quest for political power. Not all, but many of our legislators, need to be reminded of their God-given responsibility to uphold our Godly heritage and the vision of our Founders and work for the common good, and that the people expect them to find the courage and selflessness to do so.

We are all familiar with the old adage: “Politics is the art of compromise.” Compromise can have a bad connotation; nevertheless, compromise is not always bad. In fact, compromise is often necessary and the right thing to do to achieve the best possible outcome when existing conditions and circumstances render perfection unrealistic or impossible. When I was a fighter pilot operations staff officer at a NATO headquarters where our primary responsibility was developing war plans, one of my fellow officers tacked a quote on the wall which read: “Perfection is sometimes the enemy of the timely good.” That saying was eminently appropriate to war planning, just as it is to politics and many other endeavors in life. If you are married, you will understand this. Certainly, the majority of legislation, probably all legislation passed by Congress, is the result of compromise to some extent which falls far short of perfection.

Nevertheless, there are some things which should never, never, be compromised – principle, integrity, justice, virtue, righteousness, honesty, and the common good, to name a few. Our Founders understood this. They all had their faults and weaknesses – so do you and I – but they understood the great danger of human frailty, greed, and the lust for power. So they ingeniously designed a system of checks and balances in government to combat these human failings.

The Founders expressed their great concern over “factions” developing in the country which would acquire more and more political influence and power and thereby hold sway over our representatives in government. Today’s term for these factions is “special interests,” and the fears of the Founders are being realized more today than possibly any other time in our history. It is no secret that a number of our politicians are in the hip pocket of one special interest group or another. After all, that is where the money is, and money and politics are bedfellows since money is crucial to election or reelection.

Now this too is not altogether bad, assuming that a special interest group embodies the religious, moral, and ethical principles upon which the nation was founded, and is working toward upholding those principles while working for the common good. But when a special interest group believes and acts contrary to our founding principles, when it tries to move the country away from its constitutional foundations, when it tries to revise the Constitution by reading things into it that the Founders never intended, and when it places its own agenda over and above the common good as envisioned and defined by the Founders, then that special interest group becomes a dangerous threat to the nation’s stability and the welfare of the people. The corrupting power of special interests is seen in the growing number of scandals involving our elected representatives. Its seriousness is evidenced by the fact that Congress recently had to revise its ethical standards, supposedly making them tougher, although ensuring that loopholes exist.

Many politicians today abandon religious principle (although they would deny this) for political expediency – claiming to be Christian, yet willing to compromise Christian principle, teaching, and doctrine to gain the political and monetary support of special interest groups in order to gain or hold political office and power. Politics and power, like wealth and celebrity, have a way of testing and revealing a person’s true character. The comment by some people, including some politicians, that character is not the most important issue to consider in a candidate is dead wrong – wrong Scripturally, wrong according to our Founders, and wrong according to common sense. Bad character in a leader will inevitably be reflected in that leader’s politics and policies, not to mention the great potential for scandal.

Again, I emphasize that the Founders understood the fragile nature of the government and society for which they were laying the foundation, and its vulnerability to chaos, corruption, and anarchy. Thus, they repeatedly emphasized Christian morality and virtue as absolutely essential traits in both leaders and the citizenry if the nation was to survive, grow in strength, and prosper. Their statements are as valid today as when they were spoken and written, perhaps even more so, given the rise of a godless secular-progressivism, the rise of powerful special interest groups, and the readiness of so many in leadership positions to compromise principle and virtue, and even the Constitution, for the sake of power, wealth, status, and personal agendas.

When presidents, members of Congress, and judges take the oath of office, they swear to protect, defend, and uphold the Constitution – not the Constitution as they imagine it to read, not the Constitution as they would like it to read, not the Constitution as they would like to change it to read – but the Constitution as it reads, as the Founders promulgated it. The Founders, looking ahead, included specific procedures for revising and amending the Constitution; however, until these procedures are followed precisely, no president, no congress, no judge, has the right or authority to interpret it in a manner that does not conform both to its plain language and to a reasonable discernment of the intent of the Founding Fathers. A subsequent article will discuss this in more detail.

I think most citizens today feel that the nation has gone off the rails, spiritually, politically, and culturally. George Washington once wrote: “Much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly. I cannot believe it will ever come to pass. The Great Governor of the Universe has led us too long and too far…to forsake us in the midst of it…We may, now and then, get bewildered, but I hope and trust that there is good sense and virtue enough left to recover the right path.”

I sure hope and pray that he was right.

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