As we approach the July 4th holiday that celebrates the independence of our country, let's take a moment to think about the scandals affecting Washington, D.C. It’s
like someone took the lid off the garbage can. The news
headlines are full of them: the terrorist attack cover up on Benghazi, the IRS
targeting conservative groups, spending millions on conferences and granting lucrative contracts to pals. Then there are the secret e-mail accounts for government officials
to hide behind. There is the justice department spying on reporters. And the National Security Administration spying on all of us! We have come to
expect another shoe to drop every day. Congress is busy (maybe they will leave
us alone with all of these investigations!).
White
House spokesman Jay Carney is sweating it out parsing his words as he tries to
keep the president as far away from all of this corruption as he can. Maybe that's why he is in African promoting homosexual marriage. But as
the old saying goes, a fish rots from its head. In the corporate world a
company’s culture, by default or intent, flows from the fountain head of
management. Even so a government’s worldview and behavior spreads from the top
down.
I’m
not just picking on the Obama administration here. We have a rich history of
wickedness in government. President Warren Harding was a womanizer, a gambler
and he flaunted and scorned laws he swore to uphold. He set a culture in his
government that led to his justice department being nick named the “Department
of Easy Virtue.” His Secretary of the Interior “was the first to pick the
pockets of his countrymen.” Harding’s Veteran Bureau head took money that
was to go to WW1 vets and stuffed his own pockets with it.[1]
I
could go on: the Kennedy administration was far from Camelot, Nixon’s was
immoral and paranoid, Clinton’s was sleazy, the Bush presidency pushed the
boundaries of constitutional law and now the foul odor from the Obama
government. These problems are almost biblical—well, actually they are.
Reproving the leaders of his own day the Old Testament prophet Hosea said, “The princes of Judah are like those who
remove a landmark (Hosea 5:10).” In other words leaders have
boundary-moving power. When they stretch the moral limits then those who serve
under them think they can play outside the rules too.
Proverbs
29:2 could be a headline written today: “When
the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man
rules, the people groan.” Our republic was designed to be led by the godly.
John Adams said “[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.”
Samuel
Adams declared “[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will
secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally
corrupt.” And the Father of our country, George Washington had this to say, “Of
all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion
and morality are indispensable supports.”
Do what you can to promote freedom. Write or call your representative and senator. Be
involved and informed. Understand the issues and vote your conscience. But most importantly, pray for
our country; do not be afraid to speak the truth, especially the truth of God’s
Word (1 Timothy 4:1-4). Character still matters.
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