Gaining a Perspective on Current Politics and World Affairs: Why I Don’t Take Things So Seriously

I “came of age” in the tumultuous 60’s.  I don’t believe politics had any impact on me at all at this time.  I was totally self-absorbed, as most teenagers are, and dealing with angst of adolescence and adjusting to a new high school.  Events like the building of the Berlin Wall, astronaut John H. Glenn’s orbit of the earth, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, the escalation of the war in Viet Nam were all momentous times in our history.  They surely rival current events with the election of our first black President, the ongoing unrest in the Middle East and the assassination of the US Ambassador, and three other Americans in Libya. But I have no recollection of discussing them over the dinner table with my parents, hearing about them in school or watching them over and over again on the nightly news.  In fact I never read a newspaper and rarely watched the evening news on TV back then.  I must confess I was totally unaware of (and probably would not have cared) what was going on in the larger world around me.  Such things as the formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the first successful heart transplant went unnoticed by me.  What I do remember was when the Beatles stormed America and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show."  I was shocked and saddened by the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy (I remember going to view his body at St. Patrick’s Cathedral).  I also remember watching Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon and the coverage of Woodstock-"Three Days of Peace and Love" that drew hundreds of thousands to a farm in upstate New York (I was on the wrong coast at the time).  Even though I was of voting age during these years, I don’t remember ever doing so.

The decade of the 70’s I think mirrors current events on the world stage- the antiwar movement with riots on college campuses and a huge protest march on Washington, legalization of abortion by the Supreme Court, the Arab oil embargo which caused severe shortages and skyrocketing energy prices, and the economy in the worst recession in forty years.  Several scandals during this decade seem eerily similar to the current intrigue with Libya. The Pentagon papers scandal in 1971 involved the unauthorized release of a 7000 page document to the press. The papers were top secret US Department of Defense documents pertaining to the US involvement in the Vietnam War spanning a period of 1945 to 1971, commissioned by the Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. Daniel Ellsberg, a worker with this department leaked the ultra-secret information to the New York Times when he became disillusioned with the role played by the US in the war.

The Watergate scandal, however, is probably the most infamous political scandal that US has ever witnessed. It left such a long lasting impression on the collective consciousness of the American public that ‘Watergate’ became synonymous with scandal. The Watergate scandal was basically a botched bid to re-elect the then president Richard Nixon to office in the approaching elections.  Five former CIA operatives and a former NY district attorney broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters on May 27, 1972.  The men tapped phones, photographed documents and indulged in shadow practices.  A second break in attempt was spotted by a vigilant security guard who called in the Washington police. The five men were arrested and with their arrest, subsequent investigation began to unravel what was one of the worst scandals that the US had ever seen.  The President’s involvement in the affair was proved beyond doubt by tapes which had recorded his private conversations with top ranking officials of the government. Coming on the heels of a complete denial by the President of any knowledge of the affair, these tapes sealed his fate. Faced with imminent impeachment, Richard Nixon was left with no choice but to resign as President of the United States on August 9, 1974.  The scandal is also well known for the mystery source that fed the investigative Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, most of the critical information. The unidentified source was simply known as the ‘Deep Throat’.  It was an era of social and political upheaval (aren’t we hearing the same said about this present era?).

There was upheaval in my life during these years too.  I married an alcoholic, gave birth to my son Jason, divorced and became a single mother, got caught up in the drug culture for a brief time, and started nursing school in Los Angeles-again (3rd time is a charm).  No wonder I had only a passing interest in world events and still didn’t bother to vote.

The 1980’s were known as the “Me” generation of status seekers. During this decade hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts, and mega-mergers spawned a new breed of billionaire. Personalities like Donald Trump and Leona Helmsley epitomized the meteoric rise and fall of the rich and famous. “If you've got it, flaunt it” and “Shop Till you Drop” became watchwords of the day. Cocaine was the drug of choice and disco clubs like Studio 54 became famous for the hedonistic lifestyle of the decade. The sexual revolution, ushered in during the 60’s, with its dictum of free sex, led to the AIDS epidemic, devastating the gay community. The decade began with double-digit inflation, and high unemployment. The Iran-Contra Affair (86-87) had all the earmarks of the current Libyan embassy scandal. This scandal took place when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Many of the murkier details of the scandal are still hidden thanks to a thorough hush up job by loyal Reagan officials and it is still not clear to what extent the President’s complicity goes in the affair.  The scandal revolved around the arms-for-hostages deal which the US government allegedly arranged with some politically influential Iranian groups. The plan was to facilitate the safe return of US hostages who were being held in Iran by terrorists. The profits from these deals were going into funding the Nicaraguan contras, for whom President Reagan had expressed support earlier.  Although a direct link was never established connecting the President with the dealings, critics believe that the orders did come from high up in the line of command and that Reagan was in the know all the while. The President did publicly accept moral responsibility for all the dealings even though he was ‘unaware’ of them.  An investigative committee was appointed by Reagan himself, which, understandably, declared him innocent.  On a more positive note, at the very end of the decade the Berlin Wall came down!

I spent the decade getting serious about parenting and building my career. I watched the news more but was not greatly affected by it. I was making enough money to live comfortably for the first time and I was enjoying my life. I was living first in Boston with a childhood friend, after purchasing our apt. when it went condo, and later in a lovely house in Great Barrington in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains in Western Mass. As the decade came to an end, I remarried. I seemed to have reigned in my inner demons enough to live a less chaotic lifestyle and I was beginning to see that my life could be stable- financially and emotionally. As I think about it, I have never been afraid of a downturn in the economy or of being unemployed. I never gave much thought to what politicians in Washington were up to either.

The 90’s are known as the electronic age with the birth of the World Wide Web in 1992 changing forever how we communicate. Other highlights in the 1990's included the United States playing the role of world policeman, sometimes alone but more often in alliances. The decade began with Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and the resultant Gulf War. In 1993, war was in the African country of Somalia, as television images of starving children led to an attempt to oust the warlord, General Mohamed Farrah Aidid. By September, 1994, the U.S. was once again sending troops to a foreign country to overthrow a military dictatorship, this time in Haiti. In 1996 about 20,000 American troops were deployed to Bosnia as part of a NATO peace keeping force. In late March 1999, the U.S. joined NATO in air strikes against Yugoslavia in an effort to halt the Yugoslavian government's policy of ethnic cleansing in its province of Kosovo. The decade was to end much as it began with U.S. forces deployed in many countries, and the U.S. playing arbitrator, enforcer, and peace keeper throughout the world.

On the domestic front the big issues were health care, social security reform, and gun control - debated and unresolved throughout the whole decade. Violence and sex scandals dominated the media throughout the decade. President Clinton’s sexual misconduct led the pack, especially the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The country was shocked by the blatant perjury that the President had committed by lying under oath after the evidence was made public. He narrowly escaped impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice. Incidence of violence included riots in South-Central Los Angeles after four white policemen were acquitted of video-taped assault charges for beating a black motorist, Rodney King, a bomb was detonated in the garage beneath the World Trade Center, the trial of football hero, O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her male friend, Ron Goldman pitted whites against blacks when he was acquitted, the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh, and a disturbing rise in school shootings, the most lethal of which was at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. On the positive side, the booming economy led to record low unemployment and the stock market reached an all-time high as individuals learned to buy and trade via the Internet.

Personally, my career reached an all-time high too when I was appointed Director of Patient Services at the Austen Riggs Center. My second marriage threatened to end as badly as my first until a move to Little Rock and some counseling and a recovery program gave us both a new lease on our relationship. So once again, personal issues took precedence in my life and world events were only of mild concern.

The New Millennium began with Y2K fears proving to be unfounded and George W. Bush taking over the Presidency. On Sept. 11, 2011 Al Qaeda terrorists crash three planes into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Other significant events included the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the expansion of the war in Afghanistan to Iraq with the subsequent scandal over faulty Intel. Sound familiar? 2007-2008 is notable for the election of Barack Obama as America’s first black President and the financial crisis, considered by many economists to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It resulted in the threat of total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. I had begun to vote at last, but never enthusiastically. I didn’t believe it meant much or would really change things for the better in America or the world.

Political corruption may be defined as bribery, graft, extortion, robbery, patronage, nepotism, cronyism, conflict of interest and kickbacks. Political corruption in particular has a long history in America dating back to before the American Revolution. Ethically questionable behaviors have haunted American politics from the time Europeans settled the country. With the availability of land, bribery and graft led to highly unethical practices. Royal governors and officials used their positions to enrich themselves and Colonial merchants ignored tariff duties and mercantile regulations. The taming of corruption was a major feature of the federal Constitution of 1787.

By the early nineteenth century, governmental contracts provided possibilities for official malfeasance. For example, fraud, corruption and greed in the Bureau of Indian Affairs was rampant in the 1800’s. Agents accepted bribes from companies with licenses to trade on the reservations of many Native American tribes. The scandals of the Ulysses S. Grant presidency are legendary. One such scandal involved Grant’s brother-in-law. In 1869 speculators Jim Fisk and Jay Gould attempted to corner the nation’s gold market. They enlisted the help of Grant’s brother-in-law, who had pledged to prevent the President from acting to ruin the scheme. The scandal became known as Black Friday.

Another was the Credit Mobilier scandal. A dummy corporation was set up for the completion of the last 600 miles of the transcontinental railway by Congressman Oakes Ames of Massachusetts. The scheme was to have Credit Mobilier, which was entirely controlled by the same people, bill the Union Pacific for the costs of constructing the railroad. There were no other bidders for the work, so UP paid much more than Credit Mobilier spent. As a publicly traded company, Credit Mobilier could point to a record of profits that demonstrated that it was efficient and profitable, so its shares traded at a high price. Ames distributed shares to members of Congress at prices well below market. Those members merely had to sell the stock at market to reap large profits. During the subsequent Congressional investigation, it was found that more than thirty individuals representing both parties had received benefits, including the future president James A. Garfield. Stockholders, as well as the federal government, were bilked out of millions of dollars. Despite the loss of $20 million (a huge sum in the 1870s), no prosecutions ever occurred.

FYI: This type of corruption still goes on, for example, with members of government profiting from insider trading. With public confidence in Congress at an all-time low, a bill was recently introduced (The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge- STOCK- Act), which makes it illegal for members of Congress and their staffs to trade stocks based on inside information learned on the job. The very fact that this bill has been drafted makes it clear that such practices are common.

Here are a few more examples from the past: President Lincoln, at the height of the Civil War, replaced department head Simon Cameron with Edwin M. Stanton because of corruption concerns. The disputed election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, who lost the popular vote but won the presidency with one electoral vote, was the worst political corruption (until the 2000 presidential election). The election season degenerated into the opposing sides launching vicious personal attacks on the opposition candidate- just like today. Is the practice of special interest groups making large donations to campaigns to ensure their candidates victory new to the election process? Think again. In the Presidential Election of 1896, the financial titans of the time period—John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J P Morgan—gave financial support to the Republican Presidential nominee, William McKinley, to defeat Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan, and even threatened their workers with lost jobs and closed down industries if Bryan won. Corruption is not limited to the federal government either. Local governments, such as the infamous Tammany Hall in New York and the Daley political machine in Chicago were corrupt and accepted illegal contributions from business and others.

Sexual scandals are nothing new either. Here are a few highlights from further back in our America’s history: Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, had an affair while he was married to a woman who was also married. He was blackmailed by her husband, forcing Hamilton to confess and tarnishing his career. Thomas Jefferson was accused of fathering the children of his slave. President James Buchanan (D) and future Vice President William Rufus King (D-NC) were the subject of scandalous gossip alleging a homosexual affair in Washington, D.C. for many years. Andrew Jackson referred to them as Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy (1850s). The list goes on and on and on.

Conclusions: There is an old adage that says, “Be careful what you ask for.” The Bible tells us that the leaders of Israel wanted a king like all the other nations had. Samuel the prophet was very upset with their request and asked the Lord for advice. The Lord told him to give them what they requested, “But solemnly warn them about how a king will treat them.” The Lord then goes on to describe the misuse of power, the servitude, and the taxes that would break the people’s backs. He knew what kind of rulers they would have and what sort of government. He ended by saying “You will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but the Lord will not help you. And so it was and so it still is (I Samuel 8: 4-18).

I do not think it is a coincidence that the end times will be ushered in by the Antichrist coming to power as a political leader! There is nothing new under the sun, what seems so disturbing now with our federal and local government leaders has been done before- many times. We live in a fallen world and it is the nature of politics and politicians to breed corruption.