An Editorial

John G. Reisinger

Nearly everyone agrees that the situation in Washington concerning (1) the conduct of our president, (2) those who defend him, (3) and those who are seeking to have him put out of office is having, and will have, some very negative effects on our nation and society. I hesitate to get involved in any way with this subject but feel it a duty.

First of all, I cannot understand how one political group, regardless of which one it is, can vote unanimously on a given subject and then accuse the other side of being partisan for doing the same thing-voting unanimously in the other direction. That is ridiculous.

Secondly, I cannot understand how 55 members of one political party can look at the identical evidence that 45 members of the other party looks at, and then have all 100 "sincerely weigh the evidence" and then unanimously "vote their conscience" and each member of both parties come to exactly opposite conclusions. A whole lot of people are lying through their teeth. Either president Clinton is one of the most falsely maligned men who ever held office or he is guilty of some of the worst things ever done by an American president, but he cannot be both and all 100 people in the Senate know it.

We are witnessing either the greatest exhibition of power and money being used to thwart justice or we are witnessing some wicked, lying, scheming, negative politicians deliberately and maliciously attacking an innocent man. It cannot be both. The issues here are clear-cut and both sides have consciously made decisions that are diametrically opposed to each other—and both sides did so with the identical set of facts. One side simply was not honest in any sense. I leave it to the reader to decide which one was which.

Why should a Christian be upset at what is happening? Most people—Christians and non-Christians—agree, that Clinton is guilty, and most of those people really do not care if he is or is not as long as the economy is good. Some deeply lament the fact that power politics and money have allowed the guilty to go free. Others are concerned that the rule of law has been overthrown and truth has been burned at the stake. Still others are rejoicing that finally Clinton will be exonerated. What is the biggest loss in this whole sorry tale?

Most will say the destruction of the integrity of law is our greatest loss. Law is more than an expression of will; it is the expressed will to do right being enforced. When either the law is denied or there is a lack of will to enforce the law, then evil must triumph. Natural instinct and desire must rule where there is neither law nor will to see the law honored. Law, of necessity, implies both the will and the power to enforce what is right. When there is no willingness to enforce the penalty of the law when violations of the law occur, then law becomes mere advice. Diplomacy without military power behind it is like law without penalty. "The government, of whatever group or kind, in which infliction of punishment does not follow transgression is the reign of rogues or demons." Even if this has happened in America, and many feel it has and blame President Clinton, this is not the greatest tragedy.

Fines and imprisonment do not deter decent people from violations of the law half so effectively as do the social penalties of ostracism and disgrace. Exclusion from civilized society is still the strongest penalty. The fear of shunning, not jail, is the most powerful force in an Amish community. "In the unquestioning obedience to fashion's decrees, to which we all quietly submit, we are simply yielding to the pressure of the persons around us. No one adopts a style of dress because it is reasonable, for the styles are often most unreasonable; but we meekly yield to the most absurd of them rather than resist this force and be called eccentric. So what we call public opinion is the most mighty power today known, whether in society or in politics." The public opinion of today would rather defend and "hug a self-confessed liar and adulterer" than risk being called, of all wicked things, a "conservative," or what is even more heinous, a "conservative Christian." Being labeled with such "hate labels" is the only real crime that our present power of public opinion can use in an attempt to shame.

It seems to me that the greatest heartache is the clear realization that America does not have anything even close to a Christian conscience. The public has totally given up any right to hold others to any kind of a moral standard. The only real sin that is possible in America today is openly telling someone that something that they did was morally wrong and they should be ashamed. Really believing something is wrong is touted as the essence of bigotry. That is the ultimate triumph of wickedness that allows and advocates what newscasters call the great "disconnect" between the known and believed facts and how the American public responds to them. America has vocally and dogmatically chosen to disavow any idea of absolute truth or morality and will gladly turn the continued leadership of our country and their lives over to men and women, whose only concern is, "How does it effect the economy?"

We have lost the greatest power for good. We have lost the power of public opinion by refusing to judge and condemn what we know in our hearts is wrong. The American public has consciously and deliberately given the keys of the city over to the advocates of "every man being allowed to do his own thing." We have lost the power to shame the sinners and instead we treat them as persecuted heroes. That is the greatest tragedy.

Copyright 2004 John G. Reisinger