The Impossibility of Morality

In Nullifying Tyranny, the Kennedy brothers label one section of chapter 9 (“Dictators in a Democracy”) with this question: “Can a Moral Person Win an Election?”

This is an interesting question based on our previous post. The Founding Fathers seemed to think we CAN (and must) have moral men in civil government, but the Kennedys say it is impossible. That is, they say it is impossible for a moral man to win an election. I suppose those are two different things, but of course one thing is necessary to get to the other.

The Kennedys write this: “in order to raise sufficient money to run a winning political campaign in contemporary America a candidate must do three essentially immoral things: (1) promise to take money away from those who honestly earned it (theft even if it is blessed by a majority vote); (2) make promises that most likely will not be kept; and (3) make promises—either actually or implied—to grant certain favors to individuals and groups who provide the financing for the winning campaign.”

The first is a no-brainer: unless you really can eliminate all unbiblical taxation, you’ll be a part of the problem, not the solution.

The second is true, as well, and if you make no promises at all, you won’t get elected. Of course, if you stand up at a campaign rally and say, “I’m not making any promises because I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep any of them,” you might get elected for that statement alone!).

Regarding the third point, if you tell wealthy campaign donors that while you appreciate their generous gifts it’s not going to guarantee them some sort of power position in your administration, they’ll probably be quite happy to give it to your opponent.

The Kennedys end this section with a nice little paragraph: “The answer to the question of whether or not a moral person can win election in America today is—No. Even if he gained victory, which is highly unlikely today, it would take a most unusual person possessed with almost superhuman personality traits to resist the temptations of power inherent in America’s political system. “But where does that leave us?” you may ask. The way to elect moral people to office is to change the current system by removing the possibility of perks and power. How to do that is discussed in a later section of this book.”

So—no, a moral person can’t get elected, and cannot govern virtuously, in the present system. That means there must be a change. More to come on that. . . .

In the meantime, think about all the politicians you know who tout conservatism and “family values” but then choose to veer off course once in office. And when you think of conservative politicians who’ve disappointed you after gaining office, don’t leave out President Bush, a man who eventually drove me to distraction. Yes, President Bush (the younger), who said at the end of his presidency, "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." Excuse me? Excuse me?

Before I get too wound up, I’ll close. The long and the short of it is this: we live in a fallen world and we are fallen voters who vote for fallen politicians, and our fallen governmental system has grown worse, not better. Until we fix the system, those who God has called out into public service will not be able to effectively serve Him by preserving our freedom.

Today, at least, morality cannot succeed in civil government.