Monday, September 2, 2013

Three Great Temptations When Occupying a Congressional Office

Many who run for congress and get elected do so with good intentions.  They want to make a difference, help their community and constituents, and have a positive impact in the health and welfare of this nation.

There are, however, great dangers along the way toward becoming a good, honest and conscientious congressional representative.  What might they be?

First there is the temptation to exaggerate one’s position, become puffed up, and take advantage of the office.  A congressional or senate seat is no small thing.  It comes with title, privileges, and connections, and promises to give access to much more.  It’s enough to turn anyone’s head.

A newly elected representative may enter the office with a healthy amount of humility and goodwill, but it can quickly fade into the background when the real nature of the political office-quirks, with it accompanying privileges and power, begin to settle in.  Once in office, it is easy to forget that a true representative is a servant of the government and its people, not a privileged lord and master.

We’ve all seen them, petty officials, from a small security officer to a business owner/CEO, who act as if their official position sets them apart and puts them above it all.  They become little dictators, lording-it-over, demeaning and demanding of those below them, thinking themselves quite the figure, expecting others to cow-tow to their whims and wishes.  How many congresspersons and senators have succumbed to this temptation without realizing it?

Congressional and Senate Representatives are in a key position of power and influence within a nation that is among the strongest and wealthiest of world nations.  It is a valid question to ask what and whose interests are they really and truly serving—the people’s or an oligarchical elite, the special interest of money and power, a chosen few, whom?

The second temptation is age old, the temptation to abuse one’s power.  Among people, power moves in either of two directions: (1) outward toward the many, or (2) inward toward the one and/or the few.  Real servant-leaders seek to share power and move power outwardly, in the direction of the people around them, empowering the many.  On the other hand, egotistic, self-important leaders tend to amass greater and greater power for themselves and their comrades, the chosen few.

Servant-leaders listen to, receive from, and consider the plight and place of the people at large (they see individual trees as well as the whole forest).  Then they seek to motivate, encourage, and direct their fellow representatives to adopt policies that serve the interest of community and nation, individual and the people at large, the collective whole—not always easy, but always the better way to go.

A third temptation is to attempt to personally profit from one’s official position.  With congressional or senate office come many perks and privileges, as well as powerful connections.  Who can resist?  How does one not personally gain from such a status and position of influence?

Here’s just one example: I am greatly concerned by former State Governors who become key spokespersons for powerful oil companies in defense of fracking, parroting shallow arguments that are dismissive of real consequences in real peoples’ lives.  Especially since many of the State fracking deals and privileges given to the very same oil companies came at the hands of the very same person who was governor at the time.  Such behavior gives more than just a mere appearance of collusion.

Abuse of power, exaggeration of status, position, and privileges, self-interest, seeking personal gain and profit during one’s tenure in office or after one leaves office; these and more, are the many temptations that people who occupy powerful and influential offices face.  Who keeps them real, holds them accountable, or checkmates them when they cross the line?

It’s interesting how we are always worried about the moral decadence of our nation when it comes to sex.  But when it comes to the sins of greed and wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor and needy, or the lust for power and its abuses, we hear very little, say even less, and have so little concern for where this nation is heading respecting wealth distribution (or the lack thereof).  What an irony it is, when one considers the total teachings of Jesus.

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