Duke
Duke Cunningham, the San Diego congressman and former top gun fighter pilotg who has been shot down for rife corruption, is an American tragedy.
I never have been a supporter of the swaggering Viet Nam ace (was there a credible Vietnam airforce to do combast against?) who embraced all the exaggerated virtues of the Republican right wing. And even though I loved Doonesbury's making him into a figure of fun, I suspected the Duke began by believing in his own virtue and the righteousness of his cause. I have never met him but some who have tell me they have rarely met a man who seemed more sincere.
And there was his downfall.
Because he believed himself to be a man of unquestioned virtue, while vilifying the cynical liberals who opposed him, he never considered that he might be vulnerable to the weaknesses that power always threatens. So when people with powerful interests flattered him and offered him lavish gifts, he likely thought they were on the level. And, like all of us, he enjoyed the perks of his high office. That a congressman's stipend might not provide for a two million dollar house and a Rolls Royce may have seemed to him an obstacle to be overcome with the help of his rich friends.
I bet it was not until the prosecutor piled the evidence on Duke's desk, explaining the likely conseqences, that he understood that he had betrayed his own boy scout ethics.
When I was a young pastor of a significant church, I believed myself to be of purer motive than anyone else in the church. When the first power struggle came, I believed I would prevail merely because I was pure. I got creamed by those who understood power. It took some years and some painful therapy for me to understand that I am just like everyone else and my capacity for corruption as real as anyone's.
Until we will look straight on at our dark side, at the reality that being human involves being open to being corrupted, we are likely to be brought low without warning.
Every person has their price. Duke didn't know what his was.
I never have been a supporter of the swaggering Viet Nam ace (was there a credible Vietnam airforce to do combast against?) who embraced all the exaggerated virtues of the Republican right wing. And even though I loved Doonesbury's making him into a figure of fun, I suspected the Duke began by believing in his own virtue and the righteousness of his cause. I have never met him but some who have tell me they have rarely met a man who seemed more sincere.
And there was his downfall.
Because he believed himself to be a man of unquestioned virtue, while vilifying the cynical liberals who opposed him, he never considered that he might be vulnerable to the weaknesses that power always threatens. So when people with powerful interests flattered him and offered him lavish gifts, he likely thought they were on the level. And, like all of us, he enjoyed the perks of his high office. That a congressman's stipend might not provide for a two million dollar house and a Rolls Royce may have seemed to him an obstacle to be overcome with the help of his rich friends.
I bet it was not until the prosecutor piled the evidence on Duke's desk, explaining the likely conseqences, that he understood that he had betrayed his own boy scout ethics.
When I was a young pastor of a significant church, I believed myself to be of purer motive than anyone else in the church. When the first power struggle came, I believed I would prevail merely because I was pure. I got creamed by those who understood power. It took some years and some painful therapy for me to understand that I am just like everyone else and my capacity for corruption as real as anyone's.
Until we will look straight on at our dark side, at the reality that being human involves being open to being corrupted, we are likely to be brought low without warning.
Every person has their price. Duke didn't know what his was.
posted by Blayney at 5:45 PM
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