J. H. Huebert is correct, the real corruption in government is not merely avarice, but pride and superbia vitae — the lust for power that St. John puts at the peak of the temptations directed at the frail human soul (I John 2:16). That lust was the sin of Satan himself.
This corruption follows its own “trickle-down” theory. Even the lowest-level bureaucrat glories in being able to strut about the stage, creeping in his petty pace, and flaunting the swagger factor. Around here it’s evident in the forays of the “Child Protectors” who have quotas (“we haven’t destroyed enough white people with intact families! Go out to the highways and byways and suburbs and find more traditional abusers!”). They always open up with lies based on power assertion: “You’d better let me in — you know, we can take your kids.”
The Founding Fathers weren’t perfect, but they recognized man’s imperfections and underscored the need to limit severely any power that might come into the hands of an ambitious pol. Has anyone noticed lately a single major treatment of Obama’s imperfections (relative, perhaps, to those addressing McCain’s)? Any ideas as to why that might be?
8:09 am on October 28, 2008
