“If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself.” -James Madison Federalist Papers 51
Perhaps a man decides that he wishes to be in government. He is a fairly honest person, has a great personality, and is not affected for the first two or four years in office. But, what do you think happens when the natural man obtains even a particle power? He hungers for more, and before you know it, the same politician has been in government for over thirty years. Professional politicians love their power, and they will never want to give it up. They may have begun with good intentions, but that doesn’t mean that the result of being in power, isn’t nearly the same. I say nearly because there are few who make it out of power unscathed. Without a higher power, such as God, as the supreme authority guiding the affairs of men, we will never have a moral people, nor any kind of good government.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you super-ad the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.” -Lord Acton
Since all of us are susceptible to corruption, what can we do to stop it? The only answer is virtue and religion. When God is involved, people prosper. But, without His influence, we cannot, on our own, succeed. There is always hope, and I believe that if we can become a more righteous and religious people, we will have a better future.
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. … And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
Unless the responsibility to keep good government is realized, evil will triumph. The stark truth is that unless you decide to run for office, or support people who have good principles, those who do not have good principles will succeed. I plead with you to send your most virtuous people to run for office, for how else can we fight corruption unless we use those who will not compromise their integrity. Voting blindly, and hoping everything will be okay, is not an option. I beseech you to look deeply when voting, because the letter by the name of the candidate means absolutely nothing. If you really want to know what they are, listen, and compare them with true patriots.
