Today's Devotional

 

 February 4, 2009

                                                                                                                      

Subject:  We Used To Expect More From Politicians Or Need To 

Matthew 23:23 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

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Well that subject line probably isn't all that true when it says, "used to."  I think the bar has gone back and forth on our expectations for politicians.  However today we see that Tom Daschle, the nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, has withdrawn his name from nomination and it highlights a disturbing trend.  This is the third nominee to have "tax problems;" they didn't pay them.  The newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner won nomination despite his tax issues.  The people have to honestly wonder, "is this all we've got?"

Sometimes in life "hard lines" must be drawn.  As I took my students to compete in New Orleans this past week, I stated, "anyone who has failed one class, can not go on this trip."  I had no less than 30 different occasions of teachers, parents, students and even my assistant instructor came to me asking me to bend and allow a "good" student who failed one class to go on the trip in spite of my standard.  I would not bend.  My statement to them all, "if I bend on this one, then my standard is broken."

We've all done things in life that may prevent us from high office or certain positions that we want, the solution is to understand that and move on.  The answer is to keep the bar raised and not to break it.  If Mr Geithner was the only person to do that job then we are of all people most miserable.  Surely someone knows how to deal with economic issues who has properly addressed his/her own economic issues.  We need to expect more.         

Carlen