fearlesshistory

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

-John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton

“With great power comes great responsibility”

-Stan Lee, “Spiderman”

Corruption and power seem to go hand in hand and history never seems to inform the politician who sees his office as a gateway to personal financial enrichment. Most recently, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has joined the ranks of politicians who thought they would turn their office into a miniature Tammany Hall. Mr. Blagojevich, like so many other politicians from both sides of the aisle, thought himself immune to the eyes of the public and the reach of federal prosecutors. But eventually, perhaps inevitably, the press found out, a prosecutor filed charges, and some form of justice will be done (though that “justice” tends to be more lenient than the “justice” played out against the poor, brown, and/or powerless).

For instance, Richard Nixon thought his Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP) was so slick and so sly that they could never get caught breaking into the DNC headquarters and illegally wiretapping the phones…

Or, Bill Clinton thought the sale of the Lincoln Bedroom to high-rolling donors like the Clintons were welcoming “whales” in Vegas or the whole “Whitewater” affair would slip under the radar…

Or William Jefferson of  Louisiana who hid $250,000 in his freezer…

Or Ted Stevens of Alaska who thought that “gifts” instead of cash exempted him from corruption charges (again, to the tune of $250,000)…

Or Reagan’s Iran-Contra backdoor deal in which American weapons were sold to America’s enemy (Iran) in order to illegally fund guerilla fighters/drug dealers in Nicaragua (Though Reagan claimed no recollection and there was no direct evidence linking him to these activities which, if interpreted in a certain way, constituted treason)…

There’s also a host of lesser “corruptions” that politicians engage in feeling that they could never be caught; Sarah Palin and her unethical use of power, John Edwards and his illicit affair (behind the back of a cancer-stricken wife), Bill Clinton’s affairs with Monica Lewinsky, Jennifer Flowers,  and Paula Jones, Kentucky politician and former gubernatorial candidate Otis “Bullman” Hensley, Jr who tried to trade a hog for sex with a 13 year old and her 11 year old sister…the list goes on and down throughout time.

The Greek philosopher Plato warned in The Republic that the person who sought to lead was ill-suited to ruling justly and without corruption and that the person who should lead do not want the job. Unfortunately, politics doesn’t work that way…So here we are, mortals all, and we’re led by the most mortal of all people; politicians.

Luckily we live in a Democracy where (eventually) the truth will come to light. According to historian Robert Busby, there is very little that politicians or those in power can do that will not be discovered by the public. The beauty of Democracies, he argues, are they are transparent - a secret will eventually get out and the public will be duly outraged, causing the political balance to right itself. This, in turn, allows us (as Americans) to reaffirm our moral and ethical culture; it’s wrong to use a political office to acquire money or it’s wrong to have affairs, etc. For instance, Bush’s “fixed intelligence” on Iraq or the torture memos of Abu Ghraib solidified American will against the War in Iraq and reaffirmed the moral repugnance of torture.

Even if the much-maligned “fairness doctrine” is made into law, opposing voices (be they Republican, Democrat, Communist, or Anarchist) will eventually be heard and the truth exposed.

So what does this mean for the Obama administration? Will there be scandals? I’m of the opinion that there may very well be a scandal or two - heavens knows that there are people in the fringe who want desperately for there to be a scandal, so at least there will be controversy. But there are also leaders throughout history who have taken up the mantle of leadership and ruled wisely, particularly during times of great crisis. Leaders such as Cincinnatus, who was revered by philosophers and Founding Fathers alike because he accepted power reluctantly then immediately gave it up and returned to the farm when the crisis facing Rome was averted, are a kind of almost mythological beast in politics. But not totally; George Washington belonged to the Cincinnatus (pronounced “kin-kin-at-oos”) Society that believed in the reluctant use of power and the relinquishing of that power voluntarily; that’s why he left office after a second term even though he wasn’t obliged to. Abraham Lincoln governed with a minimum of controversy (most of which came to light well after he was dead; he suffered from genetic malady, his wife was insane, he dealt with clinical depression, etc.) and of those the most striking was the “Emancipation Proclamation” which angered pro-Union politicians greatly.

Is Obama another Cincinnatus, another Washington, another Lincoln? Only time (and history) will tell.

————-Resources————

“William Jefferson indicted on corruption charges ” Washington Post August 12, 2005

“Ted Stevens corruption case ” Newsweek October 28, 2008

“Clinton/Lincoln Bedroom Sale ” NBC News Archive (abstract) February 25, 1997

Jason Waggoner “Crime and Ambition: Richard Nixon and Watergate “ res publica 5(1) April 1994

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book 2, George Washington University “The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations “

Otis “Bullman” Hensley, Jr

Robert Busby’s “Political Scandal and Damage Limitation: A Transatlantic Perspective” in The Cultural Shuttle: The United States in/of Europe 54(1) 2004

Trackback URI | Comments RSS