We the People are to Blame

We have no one to blame but ourselves for our corrupt politicians.

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Bipartisan Corruption

The last few months have been a particularly depressing time to read, talk, and write about politics. On the one hand, there is Donald Trump and the multiple indictments that he now faces for blatantly immoral and potentially illegal behavior that should immediately disqualify him from holding future political office. Naturally, he is BY FAR the favorite to win the Republican primary with 54% of Republicans saying they would most likely vote for him if the election were held today according to a recent Times/Siena College poll. The next closest Republican candidate is Ron DeSantis with 17%.

On the other hand, there is the leader of the Democratic Party- the current president and almost certainly the 2024 Democratic candidate- Joe Biden. Putting aside the incessant lying that Biden has consistently done throughout his career, he just recently was even willing to acknowledge the existence of one of his grandchildren, which he finally proudly did… in the midst of a Friday news dump. Not to mention, the corruption of that child’s father, Hunter Biden, is only becoming more and more obvious and contradicting previous statements from Joe Biden about his involvement in Hunter’s dealings.

It’s not surprising that the corruption of our political leaders has left many Americans angry with politicians. This was shown in a remarkable way this week when “Rich Men North of Richmond”, by a previously little-known artist Oliver Anthony, took the internet by storm garnering over 4 million views on Youtube.

The lyrics addressed the frustration that many Americans feel about politicians:

“These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond”

The top comment on Youtube from Youtube user @bensmith0651 affirms this interpretation: “This is exactly how us hardworking, blue collar people in the flyover states feel. 100%. Mr. Oliver nailed it. Thank you, sir.”

In many ways, the song has exploded because its the anthem of “We the People” against the corruption and indifference of American politicians to the plight of the working man.

An Honest Politician?

What if there was an honest politician out there with a track record of being a decent human being? Surely, that politician would shoot up the polls as we the honest and hard-working people of America recognized their virtuous character. Right?

Well, what if I told you that there was a candidate running for office whose own opponent said that he was “too honest”? Instead of sexually harassing women, he refuses to eat alone with a woman who isn’t his wife. On top of that, he stands strong in defense of the Constitution even when faced with immense pressure, including death threats.

I’m sure people are coming out in droves to support that man, right? Actually, that man is Mike Pence and currently only 3% of Republican voters say they would vote for him.

This isn’t an ode to Mike Pence, as I certainly have my disagreements with him, but I do think it’s telling that Donald Trump criticized Pence for being too honest and Trump is the one leading in the polls. I understand people who have policy disagreements with Pence or disagree with his willingness to go along with the Trump administration for so long; however, I think it’s indisputable that Pence is less corrupt than Trump. Yet, Trump is the one with a cult following and leading in the polls by a wide margin.

While I don’t follow Democratic politics as closely, I’m sure there are decent and honest Democrats who should be significantly more popular than they are among Democratic voters.

Consider the reason so many people give for why they could never go into politics: “Politics are too slimy” or something of that nature. Most people implicitly believe that honest people simply can’t make it in politics. “Drain the swamp” is a frequently used campaign slogan for a reason.

Who’s to Blame?

This raises an important question: who is to blame for this? One benefit of living under a corrupt monarchy is that it is easy to assign blame for the source of the corruption. The monarchical leader and those around him are to blame for any and all corruption in the government.

In a democracy, the source of blame for corruption is a harder pill to swallow because it lies with we the people. Our leaders are corrupt because we the people are corrupt. Our leaders are immoral because we the people are immoral. Our leaders are full of vice because we the people are full of vice.

Unfortunately, we live in such polarized times that when I say that we the people are to blame, our minds immediately race to our political or cultural opponents. It’s the snowflake liberals in California or the ignorant hicks in Alabama that are to blame. It’s Trump voters or Biden voters that are to blame.

When, in reality, it’s all of us. It’s the progressive hipsters in Portland, Oregon that are vegan and soy only. It’s the conservative plumbers in the bible belt who drive big pickup trucks and own more guns than electronics. It’s the suburban soccer mom in Marietta, Georgia and the financial planner in New York City.

That may sound harsh, but it’s just the stark reality that we face. Our leaders are a reflection of the lack of virtue within ourselves.

I'm relatively indifferent to Jordan Peterson, but one of the things I like most that he says is to clean up your own room. How can you expect to reform all of society when you can’t get your own life in order? How can I expect to bring moral reform to society when my attempts to bring moral reform to my own life are frequently so futile?

In Matthew 7 Jesus famously says:

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye. Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Notice, Jesus does not say “don’t worry about the speck in your brother’s eye.” He calls us first to examine ourselves and deal with our own flaws so that we can clearly see what is wrong with our brother. In order to deal with corruption in our society, we have to first deal with the corruption in our own lives.

As Christians, this should humble us more than anything. As we try harder and harder to kill the sin in our own lives, we recognize our attempts are futile apart from the Holy Spirit. We end up like Paul in Romans 7 saying, '“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

This newsletter is the product of my immense frustration with hearing people blame everybody but themselves for the problems in our country. We shouldn’t be surprised or complain that our politicians are corrupt when we willingly vote for corrupt politicians. We may do it begrudgingly or with a snide remark questioning “is this the best we can do?”, but we willingly place the vote nonetheless. Then, we get mad and complain that those corrupt politicians don’t care about “we the people.” OF COURSE THEY DON’T.

Maybe we convince ourselves that we are merely choosing “the lesser of two evils,” but then let’s not act surprised when “the lesser of two evils” is still evil or when we begin to reflect the evilness that we are flirting with.

Until we clean our own rooms, look in the mirror, deal with the speck in our own eye, or whatever other phrase you want to use, we shouldn’t expect the corruption in our political leaders or world more broadly to change. “The Rich Men North of Richmond” aren’t to blame for our problems… we the people are.

God Bless,

Hunter Burnett