In reviewing the actions of many political, religious, and civic leaders, it is interesting to note that many of them have fallen from grace because of the very issues they espouse.
Many years ago I heard an inspiring speech by the then Governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, who demanded honesty and integrity in government. The speech impressed me and I declared that “this guy is my kind of man.” Agnew was chosen to be Richard Nixon’s running mate, and he served as Vice President from 1969 to 1973.
Agnew fell in disgrace following charges of income tax evasion and bribery. He resigned and was sentenced to three years probation after pleading no contest to the tax evasion charges. A Maryland
Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Baker, two sanctimonious televangelists, both raised huge amounts of money and brought hundreds of thousands into their ministries, always preaching the high moral road. Both bit the dust in sex scandals although at least one of Swaggart’s prostitutes declared that while he was a regular, “we never had sex.”
They were guilty of the very immorality they preached against.
North Carolina Senator John Edwards, ran unsuccessfully as Vice President and later as a presidential candidate on a “family values.” campaign. He later fathered a love child in a series of extra curricular activities and then left his wife who was dying of cancer. As Shakespeare would say, “Edwards fell on his own petard.”
U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler (MO) beat Ike Skelton in the last election over Tea Party issues involving major cuts in the federal budget and big government intrusion in our lives. CBS News recently ran an interview with Hartzler in which she adamantly defended her family’s acceptance of more than $770,000 in farm subsidies.
I personally am supportive of farm subsidies since I like to eat. However, I resent it when the person receiving the subsidy rails against big government spending.
Hartzler is now advocating the reinstatement of the military’s DADT policy. Is this simply a guise to pick up some support from those who hate gays, or more significantly, to diffuse her position on big government spending?
And now there is a disturbing story about Senator Claire McCaskill. She won my vote with her no nonsense business approach to government financing. We now learn that she owes thousands of dollars in overdue property taxes.
Edwards lost my support a long time ago, I never did like Swaggart or Baker, and I don’t think I will vote for either Hartzler or McCaskill in the future.
The very issues espoused by these leaders have caused their biggest headaches.
# # # # # # # # # # #
.
No comments:
Post a Comment