Recently, in discussions on the
upcoming election, a friend denounced the lack of civility by the
candidates, obviously referring to the rhetoric of Donald Trump.
My response was that it was not civility that was the problem with our politicians, it was honor.
In my experience with politicians,
although many actually hate each other, they are civil, albeit a phony
civility. How many times do we hear “my esteemed colleague” in reference
to a colleague a politician despises?
Certainly, civility is necessary in debate, but honor is the
imperative. Duty, honor, country is the basis of military service and
should be of politics. Too many politicians have never and would never
serve, and they spend more time raising money than doing their duty;
they have no honor, and they would ignore the character of our country
for a vote.
My favorite example of honor among politicians of our past is the
duel between Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson, a man who insulted
Jackson’s wife. Never mind that Dickinson was the best shot in the state
and had killed 26 men in previous duels, Jackson could not abide the
insult to his wife’s honor and challenged him to a duel. Jackson knew he
was outgunned and had little hope of survival, so he wore lose clothing
and let Dickinson shoot first, hoping it would not be fatal and he
would live long enough to kill Dickinson.
Dickinson did shoot first and put a bullet in Jackson that broke two
of his ribs and lodged inches from his heart where it would remain the
rest of his life. Jackson miraculously remained on his feet long enough
to kill Dickinson. Reflecting on the duel, a doctor remarked to Jackson,
“I don’t see how you stayed on your feet after that wound.” To which
Jackson responded, “I would have stood up long enough to kill him if he
had put a bullet in my brain.” Jackson was a man of honor whatever his
other shortfalls may have been.
For Jackson, honor was more important than his life. For many
politicians today, a vote is more important than their honor. I
understand the revulsion toward dueling today, but I admire the honor
behind them. Can it be imagined that Jackson, or any politician of his
era, would stand by and be called a liar to his face?
Look at the pols in this election cycle who pledged, on their honor,
to support their party’s nominee for president – and broke their pledge.
They lied to our face. Many of these people, considered giants among
politicians today, are disgracing themselves: Ted Cruz (who was my
choice), John Kasich, Jeb Bush and the other Bushes and Republicans who
boycotted the Republican convention. John McCain, on the other hand, a
military man, endorsed Trump despite the damage it could have done to
his re-election. McCain is a man of honor.
Unbelievably, many of these turncoats were motivated because they
personally disliked Donald Trump, because he, and the people of their
own party, soundly humiliated them in the primaries. They must know that
a Hillary Clinton presidency will destroy the courts and the character
of the country they claim to love. They broke their pledge even though
Trump represents the very ideals they claim to espouse. These people are
petty, self-absorbed and without honor.
Akin to a lack of honor is the fact that many Republicans are not
team players. I think of Mitch McConnell and Lisa Murkowski. McConnell
cast the deciding vote for an amendment that denied the people the right
to protect their flag, a right Americans had enjoyed since our birth as
a nation, a right taken away by the Supreme Court as a result of a
flag-burning by a communist. He voted against his own party despite the
fact that 75 percent of the people, almost two-thirds of the Congress
and every state legislature in the country did not believe flag-burning
was speech.
And neither did James Madison, the author of the Bill of Rights, and
his friend Thomas Jefferson. Of course McConnell’s vote made him a hero
with the media and leftists who believe only they, not the people,
should interpret our Constitution. As one would expect from such a man,
he has openly criticized Trump and praised Clinton.
Lisa Murkowski, a favorite daughter (appointed to office by her
father, former Sen. Frank Murkowski) from Alaska, ignored her defeat by
the primary voters from her party and ran and won as a write-in. As a
senator she has “evolved” on same-sex marriage contrary to the position
she ran on. She does not know if she will vote for Trump and also
supports what I call a quad-sexual (LGBT) military, which is an assault
on the ethos of our armed forces.
St. Thomas Aquinas, a staunch conservative, defined the commandment,
“Thou Shalt Not Steal.” One of the characteristics of a thief, he said,
was their buying promotions to positions of power and using their
constituents’ money for their own self-aggrandizement to the detriment
of or contrary to the understanding of those who gave them the money.
Murkowski and many of our politicians today meet St. Thomas’s definition
of a thief. And as the saying goes, there is no honor among thieves.
Murkowski and McConnell are poster children for others in Trump’s
party who have also revealed their real selves in this election, who are
not team players, who “evolve” (principles don’t evolve), who have no
honor and who steal from their constituents.
In the military, we have a simple test for honor: Would I want this
person with me in combat? We don’t want evolvers, non-team players,
liars, thieves or people without honor – and neither should voters. Gen.
George Patton, who understood duty, honor, country, said: “Politicians
are the lowest form of life on earth.” Certainly, a lack of honor is a
characteristic of low forms of human life.
We can only pray that the electorate recognizes and abhors their lack
of this virtue, essential to our character as a people. Whatever the
outcome of this election, we should be grateful to Trump for his assault
on political correctness, which makes cowards of so many of his
opponents, and for exposing their lack of honor. We can only pray that
these people do not represent who the rest of us are as a people.
We are in the swirl around the drain, and politicians without honor will flush us down.
God bless,
JohnnyD
Kosar
,
It was perfectly obvious that Trump was not mimicking any disability
that Serge has, but I didn’t have the smoking gun to prove that the
media were lying and knew they were lying. Now we have it.