Change We Can Believe In?
October 21st, 2009Why is it a bad thing when a ruler listens to corrupt advisers? Proverbs 29:12 says, “If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will become wicked.”
In recent years we’ve seen an ever growing trend of corruption in our governmental leadership. During the second term of the Bush administration Democrat Party leaders appropriated the phrase “culture of corruption” as a political slogan in reference to a series of Republican scandals. California Representative Nancy Pelosi, after being chosen Speaker of the House in the 2006 midterm elections, pledged that she would “drain the swamp” turning this Congress into “the most honest and open Congress in history.” Three years later the swamp still seems pretty murky. President Obama on his first day in office made one of the toughest ethics pledges of any president. Eight months into his administration the so-called “culture of corruption” seems more corrupt than ever. Here are some examples of dishonesty in the Obama White House:
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says the Obama administration “rescued the economy from the worst recession.”
Senior Advisor David Axelrod says, “It is very important that we have the kind of competition and choice that will help consumers,” but getting rid of state barriers, “is not endemic to the kind of reforms we are proposing” (i.e. a public option).
Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett to this day refuses to answer questions about the dilapidated Chicago slum housing complex managed by her company, Habitat, Inc.
Senior Advisor Pete Rouse continues to vote in Alaska while improperly claiming a property tax deduction on his Washington D.C. residence.
Vice President Joe Biden has a laundry list of many gaffs, exaggerations, made-up stories and bald-faced lies that are well documented.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also enjoys a long list of falsehoods that include Travelgate, cattle futures, Whitewater, and a host of other fabrications and exaggeration.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner lied on his income taxes.
Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack lied about nonexistent newly developed life saving treatments as Governor of Iowa to explain his flip-flop on a human cloning ban.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis claims she and her husband were unaware of 15 outstanding state and county tax liens against her husbands business.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius claims there isn’t anything about the public option that would ration healthcare.
Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood informed the Detroit Economic Club that the dark days of the domestic automobile industry are over thanks to the heroic efforts of the Obama administration.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu insists “there’s very little debate” that a new green energy economy will bring economic prosperity.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan argued that we have an obligation to disregard politics to do whatever is “good for the kids”, then buried the findings of a politically inconvenient study in order to dismantle the D.C. voucher program
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asserts that “illegal workers crossing the border is not a crime per se.”
Certainly this is not comprehensive and I haven’t even mentioned the Czars or any past Chicago cronies of questionable character outside the White House, but it helps us understand why it is a bad thing when a ruler listens to corrupt advisers. Rulers who listen to falsehoods create an atmosphere in which corruption is acceptable. “All his officials will become wicked.” He invites a standard of corruption that affects the entire administration. It affects the kind of advisors he appoints. It affects their counsel, it affects their behavior, it affects public opinion.
Character does matter. The argument, “We’re not electing a Sunday school teacher, we’re electing a president,” just won’t wash. It’s high time Christians stop casting our votes based on empty promises and bumper sticker slogans like “hope and change” and start taking a stand on the biblical convictions we say we hold so dear. Maybe then we can do something about ending corruption on Capitol Hill.
