“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
So it has ever been.
So it shall ever be.
When we fix the system and have it operate as it should I promise you we will have ballot boxes full of good men (and I suppose a woman or two.)
There will be no more being governed by the “lesser of two evils.”
We will never again have to choose between a felon and a person who couldn’t pass the bar. One ticket that woeful combination of greed and folly and the other a union of incompetence and unease.
These are the choices the political party system provide.
A system that divides before it subtracts.
I see a system that only adds and multiplies.
I see a world where we choose between brilliant men and women and no one else.
Its not so hard.
Look out at the horizon and you can see them already.
Really, its precisely what the founders of our nation intended.
Its built into the very DNA of our nation. And it is burning to return.
The political party system has stifled it. But it will be back.
Its inevitable.
So let’s discuss, however briefly before the college football season kicks off, what a qualified lawmaker might look like.
In the first place they should be “good” and not “evil.”
This is not challenge to find in society. But it is challenging to find in politics.
Why is that?
Well, rather obviously “good” men and women tend to carry themselves with a certain humility and grace– the silent dignity of a life lived not to curry favor but to accomplish results.
Sadly, of course, that personality simply does not fit with politics.
Yet politics is the highest way to serve man. “Results” are needed more in the political arena than in any other.
Assuring laws are well organized, the government well checked, the people’s freedoms well preserved– to what greater purpose can the “good” aspire?
But that disdain for the spotlight–that crippling humility of “good” men and women– has for so long lead to only the ignorant, incompetent and–most importantly– those desperate for attention to seek political office. Thus has it ever been said “only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it.”
The absence of qualified people in the ballot box has lead to most intelligent and capable members of society simply ignoring politics altogether. And the political parties have been there to capitalize.
As the rational logical parts of our minds disdain the spectacle of buffoons holding office, only the hot passionate parts of our minds can be reached.
Logic will not spur us to the ballot box. There is nothing logical to vote for.
Only anger will spur us to the ballot box. Because there is always something loathsome to vote against.
In truth, its all loathsome. The political parties are only good at one thing– blinding you to their own loathsomeness, and helping you to hate the other side.
But there is no other side.
There is no right or left.
Its concocted.
Made up.
The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing people they had to choose one side or the other– when there are no sides to begin with.
Just conspiracies by a handful of people so desperate to hold power they’ll make you act out of hatred where you should only be acting out of wisdom.
Ultimately, good men don’t pledge themselves to that devil of conspiratoral control– to the political parties. They pledge themselves to the people. And to the truth. And nothing else.
Not to the darkness of the people. But to their excellence.
Not to their fears. But to their promise.
A good man elevates.
But seeking a “good” man should be the least of our worries.
The ballot boxes should be full of them.
A display case of gems and jewels of human virtue.
It shall be that way again.
And when it is, remember that being “good” is not even a minimum threshold to hold office– its a minimum threshold to be considered for office.
Those who prevail must have qualifications far beyond merely being “good” in the moral sense– they must be “good” for the position they are to hold.
For the House of Reps they must be good listeners. Good obeyers. They are not to be leaders. The Constitution forbids it. Instead they are to be absorbers and portrayers. Understanding the desires and locals needs of their constituents and faithfully etching the same into law. They must be attorneys, of course. Because they must make law. (As we would not hire an unqualified person to bake us a loaf of bread, how much more cautious must we be to assure those making our laws are qualified to draft them?)
Senators are leaders to a degree. They must account for the broader policies. Here we seek wisdom. Here we seek those who have sacrificed their lives to the pursuit of something greater. We want to see long years of dedicated study. Decades, perhaps, of running a successful business that served its employees and society well. Senators are, by design, the 100 most powerful people in our society– so we must demand the most of their qualifications.
The president was supposed to be a virtual nobody. A steward, perhaps, of the grand beauracracy of the administrative state today. But nothing else. He was never to make law. Only once a year was the president supposed to speak on what laws might be useful– during his annual address to Congress. The constitution makes no other mention of the executive branch discussing political matters– and it is an abomination we allow it.
I see a world where our presidential candidates “debate” one another by explaining how they will each uphold the constitution in a superior fashion than their counterparty. And ultimately these debates won’t be for the “people”– but for the people’s representatives, the electoral college.
I didn’t come up with any of this, of course. The founders did.
Great people who gave us a great system.
Its your system. And mine.
And it has been taken from us.
By the political parties.
A republic, friends, if we can take it back.
And we can.
The courts are on our side.
The law is still in our favor. At least for now.
“Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom.”
There is plenty of wisdom out there.
In the courtrooms if nowhere else.
I know its hard to see.
But I see it.
I know its hiding.
But not from me.
I know in dark times, the light seems like it may have gone out.
But its right here.
And I’m going to show it to you.
#deservetowin
