WHAT HAPPENED TO MR. SMITH?

Did you ever see the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” with Jimmy Stewart? It was made in 1939 & its appeal was based on the idea that politicians, especially professional ones, are prone to corruption & should not be trusted.

Such a sentiment is not new. Neither is the one behind the call to “Drain the Swamp.”

One of our Founders, James Madison, recognized that men are not angels. Based on that reality, those who labored diligently to produce the Constitution, which prescribes the structure & operation of our Federal government, set it up to include 3 branches. They expected that, human nature being what it is, each branch would compete with the others for power. (Contrary to what some seem to think, a Special Counsel is not a fourth branch.) In doing so, each branch would essentially hold the other branches accountable.

For much of my lifetime, it has been fashionable in popular entertainment to describe business & corporate leaders as the most corrupt class that exists. The accompanying implication (often unspoken) has been that those in government are more honest & altruistic than those in business. I don’t believe that is true. No one is an angel, but elected officials who only occasionally answer to the electorate are much more prone to corruption that those in the private sector. (In addition to elected, there are hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats who make up the monolith we call the Federal & state governments & are known to no one.) Unlike those in government, those in the private sector must face the “real world” every day to survive economically & legally.

We have mid-term elections coming up soon. Pray for godly people who recognize the challenge of corruption to be placed in positions of authority & responsibility. Then put feet on your prayers by voting for those candidates.