History has a way of distilling complex historical things into oversimplified cliches. For instance, taxation without representation, therefore the American Revolution. America is evil, therefore Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
With the facts come to light regarding the Russian dossier, it would be tempting to distill this complex issue down into an oversimplified one-liner. We need to make sure that the attitude is not merely Clinton good, Trump bad, nor Clinton bad, Trump good.
If history is going to distill this incident down, it ought to remind us of what we truly need to learn. It needs to remind us that the moral character of our leaders does matter.
Politics & Lies. But I Repeat Myself
What is the complaint you hear most often regarding politicians? That they don’t tell the truth.
The joke has always been: “How can you tell if a politician is lying? See if their mouth is moving.”
Regardless of your political affiliation, we can all agree that we like people, and especially our leaders, to tell us the truth. However, our societal drift away from religion and morality has led us to a place where we cannot even agree on what truth is.
And yet we know we want it.
Pariah
So we want leaders who tell the truth. But by and large, we do not have such leaders. Something is missing.
Having honest leaders requires 2 things – 1) a conviction that Truth exists, and 2) a conviction that there is a future state of rewards and punishments.
Christianity. There I said it. Go ahead, freak out. It doesn’t change the fact that our Founding Fathers, after extensive research, study, and observation of historical records, came to the conclusion that this was the answer to good leadership.
Why would Jay say this? The reason is because our Founding Fathers realized something about mankind – it is evil.
Is it any wonder that lying politicians in D.C., not controlled by a power within, remain uncontrolled by their constituents in far off distant states? Lying politicians create their own pragmatic “truth” and do not live with a conviction that their actions will eventually be judged.
All the problems we are facing, the crisis of leadership stems from a lack of principled, morality.
Our Own Leaders
The moral character of our leaders does matter. However,
It’s easy to point the finger at the failing leaders in this country. At the federal, state, & local level. Past & present. Both sides of the aisle. But things like the Russian dossier are merely symptoms of a greater illness America is suffering from.
You see, our leaders are not some separate class of human beings. Our leaders are a reflection of those they lead. America is a republic, which means that our leaders come from among us. If there is corruption in our leaders, perhaps we do well to look in the mirror.
“[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
John Adams
“It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people.”
Richard Henry Lee
“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
