For Shame, For Shame.

Dear Editor,

For Shame, For Shame. The historian and moralist, Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: 

“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 add the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.” 

A person’s sense of morality lessens as his power increases.

America is a great experiment, still unperfected.

The genius of the founding fathers (John Adams, most notably) was to create a system of checks and balances among the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature. The theory is good, but incomplete.  

Mr. Adams did not anticipate prejudice among judges, the rising capability of the electorate, the power of mass communication, and the tenacity of those seated in the halls of government. Adams considered elected office a short-term honor valid only for that time spent in service.

The America’s history of mistakes is legion: Equality was never universal. Citizenship was limited to a designated few, selected by land holdings.  Slavery was tolerated and encouraged until it became so imbedded in the character of the people that black hatred was considered normal. Red men were inferior and could be used as needed. Yellow men were identified as unreliable and dangerous. Women were inferior to men. Religious intolerance flies in the face of the words of our Constitution. Sex was, and still is, a primary determinate of capability.

Few consider the meaning of the words of Ronnie Reagan’s favorite hymn, “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Conflict between Christians and Muslims began with the Crusades a millennium ago and now is revived.  The gods must shake their heads at the conundrum of man’s stupidity.

We strive to understand. We want to do good. But we fail again and again. 

Sincerely,

James H. Pursell

Owego, N.Y.