Here is an astonishingly simple truth: No human being is right all the time. This means quite simply that neither Democrats nor Republicans are right all the time. Alas, one would not know that from what one sees and hears on the political scene. And if there is one message more than any other that politics is sending to children, that message is “To hell with you”.
As Neil Cavuto has once remarked: It would be nice just once to hear politicians say “I am sorry. I made a mistake. I was wrong.” Instead, what we get is insufferable grandstanding on both sides. Indeed, if anything is clear it is clear that each side is more interested in finding ways to blame the other side than finding ways to cooperate with the other side. And that surely is a most unwholesome moral message to send to children.
The arrogance of politicians on either side bespeaks an ill-will that makes them all rather unfit to govern the nation. Of course, I am speaking in broad generalities here. There are exceptions. But the exceptions prove the rule.
Since I mean to be making a very general point in this blog-entry, I shall not mention the names of any politicians, lest that be seen as being hypocritical. However, I shall mention the name of a group, namely Acorn.
One does not have to be a saint in order to see that the group has behaved in rather inappropriate ways. Even if one embraces the ideals of Acorn, one should have considerable moral qualms with many of the approaches that Acorn has taken.
One does not have to be a genius to see that Acorn sees to subscribe to the view that it is justified in using any means whatsoever to achieve its goals. Likewise, one does not have to be a saint to hold the view that this approach is entirely unacceptable. So there be complete outrage on the part of both Democrats and Republicans.
Acting with integrity is incompatible with using any means whatsoever to achieve one’s ends. And we should want our children to embrace the ideal of integrity.
Alas, if what children do is tied to how politicians behave, then politicians are clearly teaching children “To hell with integrity”. And, of course, to say “To hell with integrity” is also to say “To hell with honesty”. Needless to say, without honesty and integrity on the part of individuals, trust and goodwill between them is simply impossible. And where we lack trust and goodwill between individuals, what we have is some version of hell on earth between them.
No doubt, there are many reasons why today’s children lack the moral fiber that children seem to have once had. Radical changes in technology most certainly constitute a factor. Perhaps that is it. Owing to technology one now see more clearly the moral blemishes of politicians. Perhaps in the past, it was possible for politicians to maintain the façade of integrity. And so we could see them has having a measure of moral decency notwithstanding the reality that they were absolutely corrupt.
Well, there is perhaps no greater sign of just how corrupt politicians are than the fact that in the face of the reality that they are pretty much on full-display 24-7, they are doing very little, if anything, to foster a public image of integrity. Alas, the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that in general politicians are clearly indifferent to the ideal of integrity. And this shows that in so many words, politicians are none other than moral monsters.
This, then, is the moral and social reality that permeates our society and which children experience in a multitude of ways: Our politicians are moral monsters.
Many of the practices of Acorn are just as despicable as anti-abortionists who hold that they are justified in murdering doctors who perform abortions. In either case, the judgment of moral unacceptable behavior should have nothing whatsoever to do with whether one is a Democrat or a Republican. I mean, as the case of Nazi Germany shows, one has to be morally bankrupt to suppose that murder or massive deception is a moral prerogative one’s party.
Offhand, we are perhaps naturally inclined to hold that Democrats and Republicans are quite removed from folks who are Nazis. Well, it is true that no one overseeing gas chambers. And we would all like to think that no would ever do such a thing. But I ask: Except for some measure of blind faith, what concrete reason(s) do any of us have actually to believe that our politicians would not do such a thing. For what we have every reason to believe is that, with utterly rare exception, they are all entirely self-serving individuals. And I suggest that one will be extremely hard-pressed to find adequate moral space between entirely self-serving individuals and Nazis.
If I am right, then we have some clarity why the United States is going to hell in hand-basket. About the only thing that politicians inspire nowadays is self-centeredness. Not courage. Not integrity. Not virtue. Or to put the point a more poignant way: What politicians inspire can only be properly described as evil. Or so it is, once we stop being polite. So the next time, we look at the beginning of evil behavior in the children around us, just ask yourself: What has your politician done lately to inspire moral excellence on the part of this or that child?
