"The Moral Test of Government"

By David at Kmareka, Section Diaries
Posted on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:59:52 AM EST
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Former Vice President Hubert Humphrey once said that "the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." Some 30 years ago or so, as a young teen, I met Mr. Humphrey in Miami, Florida. He was exiting an airplane, along with my Uncle Joe--who at the time was in the employ of the U.S. Agency for International Development and had previously worked many years with the Red Cross. The two had met some time ago and renewed their acquaintance on the plane. After disembarking, while still in the airport, my uncle was kind enough to make introductions, and I shook then Senator Humphrey's hand. It was my first encounter with a public figure (not including the time I inadvertently bumped into the mayor while dashing to class in elementary school), and I recall feeling rather thrilled.

Both Humphrey and my uncle were men of considerable compassion and drive, dedicating their professional lives to making the world a better place than they found it. Hubert Humphrey died in 1978. My uncle, Joseph Salzburg, died just a few weeks ago. In the time since I attended his funeral (at Quantico, Virginia), I have been more contemplative than usual, reflecting on both this loss and the miserable state of affairs in this country (election results notwithstanding). I suspect that Mr. Humphrey and Uncle Joe would view the current social and political landscape with more than a little disapproval and despair--and, indeed, might argue that government is failing the "moral test" (or, in the terminology of No Child Left Behind, not achieving adequate yearly progress). As if further evidence of such were needed, consider this article from today's Washington Post:

U.S. Sued Over Dropping of Benefits for Disabled
For eight years, Shmul Kaplan lived alone in a suburban Philadelphia housing complex with hardly any furniture and barely enough food to eat. Two years ago, the government told the amputee he would have to make do with less.
Kaplan, who is from Ukraine, lost his $603 in Supplemental Security Income after he missed a seven-year deadline to become a U.S. citizen. The clock started ticking after he was granted asylum in 1997.
A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Pennsylvania recently on behalf of people such as Kaplan, 80, contends that they are not responsible for missing the deadline. Kaplan's citizenship application is among hundreds of thousands awaiting background checks by the FBI, a mountainous backlog that grew after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. More than 6,000 physically handicapped people who were granted asylum have had benefits cut as they wait, according to the suit.
"The Social Security Administration . . . projects that over 46,000 immigrants will be cut off from SSI in the years 2006-2012 as a result of delays in granting citizenship and the operation of the seven year rule," the lawsuit says.
The suit's plaintiffs include Eshetu Meri, 51, of Fairfax, a blind man who escaped from Ethiopia, where he was targeted for advocating democracy; Tasim Mandija, 80, of Philadelphia, a native of Albania who suffers from prostate cancer and neuropathy; and Rouzbeh Aliaghaei, 17, an Iranian who suffers from a rare genetic disorder that resulted in autism, seizures, mental retardation and an enlarged head. He came to the United States in 1998 when his parents escaped political persecution. [full text]

I cannot help but feel for these people. I cannot help but feel outrage and concern and sadness. I cannot help but chafe at the injustice and cruelty, as well as my own inability to rectify such. What can I do? What can I offer, beyond these modest words and my own pale efforts to leave the world a better place than I found it. What would Hubert Humphrey and Joseph Salzburg tell me?

Perhaps, again to quote the former, "never give in and never give up." These two honorable men lived by such words. And, whatever their accomplishments, the lives they led offer ample evidence that they passed the "moral test" to which we all are held accountable. So what better way to honor their legacy--and the legacy of untold great men and women who have disembarked from this earthly plain--than by making certain that I pass the test as well. And never cease to demand the same of those who govern.

[NOTE: This diary may also be viewed at Kmareka.com.]

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"The Moral Test of Government" | 23 comments (23 topical)

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Transformation (none / 0) (#1)
by Edger on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 11:26:45 AM EST

Some thoughts I've found while browsing...

"An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and that she had another son aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple - not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said, "That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter." Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.
"Circumstances can be controlled by us, because we have created the circumstances. Society is the product of relationship, society changes; merely to rely on legislation, on compulsion, for the transformation of outward society, while remaining inwardly corrupt, while continuing inwardly to seek power, position, domination, is to destroy the outward, however carefully and scientifically built. That which is inward is always overcoming the outward.
...
So again it depends upon you and not on the leaders - not on so-called statesmen and all the rest of them. It depends upon you and me but we do not seem to realize that. If once we really felt the responsibility of our own actions, how quickly we could bring to an end all these wars, this appalling misery! But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, "For God's sake, don't disturb us, leave us alone". The higher up we are, the more we want security, permanency, tranquility, the more we want to be left alone, to maintain things fixed as they are; but they cannot be maintained as they are, because there is nothing to maintain. Everything is disintegrating. We do not want to face these things, we do not want to face the fact that you and I are responsible for wars.

Good diary, David.

We are indifferent (none / 0) (#2)
by aw on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 08:43:06 AM EST

But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, "For God's sake, don't disturb us, leave us alone". The higher up we are, the more we want security, permanency, tranquility, the more we want to be left alone, to maintain things fixed as they are

I had conversation with one of my brothers yesterday about the fiscal problems facing the US. He thinks the economy is just wonderful; as long as Wall Street is doing well, all's right with the country. He is living in that alternate reality with W. Really, you cannot penetrate it. When you talk about current and looming problems, he gets a look that I can only describe as an amoeba when it gets poked, an irritated squirming. He's really a good guy (at least to people he knows) and certainly not stupid, but he's got this tunnel vision and the mass of less fortunate people just doesn't enter it. Some people simply will not see. We just have to outnumber them.

It's very strange and sort of (none / 0) (#3)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:24:32 AM EST

seems backwards and upside down. But ever since I was very young I can't help but notice that the more people have the more fear they have and the more insecure they become.

Your brother sounds like he's doing reasonably well financially and by all the standards by which society convinces us are the measures of success. Yet he squirms. Too much to lose?

"What if my whole life has been wrong?"
--Ivan, in Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich".

Your brother is very like (none / 0) (#4)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:34:01 AM EST

most of my family...


Yeah, he's doing well (none / 0) (#5)
by aw on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 10:00:12 AM EST

Even when he was a young kid, he dreamed of making lots of money. He's really driven by it. And he has young adult kids and he won't see any problems. All will be rosy. The Dow will hit 36,000 in two years (if it does, I'll be really well off, too, but I'm not buying it). I'm not kidding. Dreamland.

Yes, I guess you could say, too much to lose. But what about the kids? What if he leaves them just enough to pay their share of the national debt and they're still living in a country where there is no money or will to help the helpless; where chronic poverty causes increases in crime? What good is it?

Another example of that tunnel vision, but closer to home: When my son was little, we lived with my parents for a while. Brother came over and wanted to store all his guns in Mom's attic so his kids wouldn't get hold of them and get hurt. My mother said, "Aren't you forgetting that we have a kid in the house, too?" He got the point, that time, at least.


I guess (none / 0) (#6)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 10:07:58 AM EST

all we can do is try to open them up by showing them, and by doing it ourselves. Even though it's painful sometimes....

As long as they have a comfort zone that insulates them, or allows them to insulate themselves, from reality, most people will resist, and if pushed will fight.

Maybe the only way is to pull, instead of push. The hard part of doing that is that we have to go first, though. ;-)


I try (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by aw on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 10:14:33 AM EST

to get through to the kids. They seem to be more open-minded.


I don't belong to any organized religion (none / 0) (#8)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 10:21:54 AM EST

but they all have some good things to teach. It's finding people who will listen that is the challenge.

Matthew 18:3-4 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 19:23-24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.


A Thought... (none / 0) (#9)
by David at Kmareka on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 11:23:51 AM EST

Interesting dialogue, my fellow TalkLefters. I wonder sometimes what it would take for those with tunnel vision or who live in denial of all the suffering around them--which is aggravated or perhaps even caused in some measure by such studied indifference or blindness--to wake up and smell the stench of death. Maybe something like the following is ultimately required:

Germans Confront Nazi Atrocities

Whether we like it or not, atrocities are happening in our names, and we are facing an important moral test.


Your diary (none / 0) (#10)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 11:35:21 AM EST

sparked some good contemplations and 'ponderations' ;-) Is that word? It sound good and sounds like it should be.

I think these subjects touch a real nerve of longing for a more connected and real society with a value basis in something other than money and material acquisition.

Germany has had much very painful experience in taking responsibility, in being accountable, and in avoiding "avoidance of responsibility", I agree... but I wonder if one of the problems is that few people are educated as children in... techniques(?)... for psychologically dealing with problems that seem so unapproachably huge.

Cold reality too cold, maybe?


: I think aw hit it (none / 0) (#11)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 11:38:10 AM EST

on the head with trying to get through to the kids.
They have much greater capacity than adults.
It seems that becoming adult has become synonymous with progressively becoming more fearful.

Yes (none / 0) (#12)
by aw on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 01:54:19 PM EST

I'll remind him of what we're doing in his/our name. I think he leaves all the "caring" to his wife. You know, she's got it covered, so he doesn't have to.

Don't know if I can compete with Fox News, either. I think he watches because they justify his worldview.


He's not alone (none / 0) (#13)
by Edger on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 02:05:05 PM EST

I think he leaves all the "caring" to his wife.

I think there are millions of guys out there caught in the same psychological.... trap? Women too, I suppose.


Back to the kids (none / 0) (#14)
by aw on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 04:00:49 PM EST

One of his sons went down to the Gulf Coast to volunteer after Katrina, using a couple of weeks of his vacation time. His other kids and my son bought a bunch of toys for poor kids for Christmas, as they have for several years now. They do this on their own without any prompting, because they do care. It gives me hope for the future. It may not be a huge thing, but they are just starting out on their own.


Off topic (none / 0) (#16)
by aw on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 09:31:53 AM EST

It's Christmas, so now I will say some good things about my brother (I feel kind of guilty and disloyal about the above). When I was a kid, he took me to the big antiwar moratorium in NYC; I wouldn't have been allowed to go otherwise; same with Woodstock. When my boyfriend left me for another girl, he gave me money to go horseback riding to ease my broken heart. Last week, he offered to pay for my car repairs. He does have a heart, but I would like him to extend it to politics, too. Because it's Christmas, I probably won't actually bring up politics, but listen to him laugh at "Elf" as if he were seeing it for the first time--again. He really loves Christmas.

And now I have to go finish that Buche de Noel cake. Merry Christmas.


Merry Christmas, aw. (none / 0) (#17)
by Edger on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 10:19:18 AM EST

Yes, everybody has both positive and negative in them.

Well... mostly everybody. ;-)

Have a great Christmas!


And to you both... (none / 0) (#18)
by David at Kmareka on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 10:47:08 AM EST

Best wishes for a joyous holiday season and greater peace and harmony in the new year. Thanks for the vibrant discussion.


: YOU started it! (none / 0) (#19)
by Edger on Sun Dec 24, 2006 at 10:57:24 AM EST

Thanks for the diary, David.... Merry Xmas.

The Moral Test of Government (none / 0) (#15)
by DARRYLMAST on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:42:58 PM EST

The wisdom of this world is foolishishness in
God's eyes. When we serve greed and allow the rich to stick our taxes in there personal pockets like has been going on for the last 6 years.

For it is not he that willeth or he that runneth but God that giveth the increase. We must please God with our Government.

Thanks David... (none / 0) (#20)
by Ernesto Del Mundo on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 12:32:14 AM EST

For this discussion and for the link to the photo gallery. As people who are very well off relative to the rest of the world, it seems we almost prefer to be detached from the reality of what it means to be "the least among us" (but some are more detached than others). I was always struck by the part in the movie "Little Big Man" where the elderly Indian (played by Chief Dan George) talks about the difference between Indians and the White Man. I am paraphrasing here but the gist of it was that the Indians felt that all things were alive and had an intrinsic value for that reason, whereas the White Man believed everything was dead, "even their own people". I always found that to be an interesting perspective on the market-based approach...by someone existing outside the system.

And thank you for the comment... (none / 0) (#21)
by David at Kmareka on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 09:24:55 AM EST

I concur with your point of view. By the way, the quote from Little Big Man--which is just a wonderful and timeless film--is as follows:

"Do you see this fine thing? Do you admire the humanity in it? Because the Human Beings believe everything is alive. Not only Man and the Animals but Water, Earth, Stone...Things that come from them. Like that hair. The Man from whom this hair came is bald on the Other Side because I own his scalp...This is the way things are. But the White Man--they believe everything is dead. Earth. Animals. People. Even their own people. If things keep trying to live, White Men will rub them out. That is the difference."

: Vedanta (none / 0) (#22)
by Edger on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 09:31:44 AM EST

(Watts' interpretation")
We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves," the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe.

God's Wisdom (none / 0) (#23)
by DARRYLMAST on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 10:27:49 PM EST

The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's eyes. If we serve greed we will reap distruction. If we serve each others needs we will reap salvation.

Bush Cheney, G H W Bush, Jim Baker, Paul Wolfawitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice have all sewed greed and will reap distruction.

1 Timothy 6:5-10

Perverse diputing of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth saying that it is Godly to get gain from them withdraw thyself for Godliness with contentment is great gain. For those who would be rich fall into a snare and a trap which drown men in distruction and perdition. For the love of moeny is the root of all evil. Those that coveted after have erred from the faith and pierced them all through with many sorrows.

They have pierced us through with many sorrows with their greed

Bush 1 and Bush 2 Carlyle Unocal

Cheney Haliburton Unocal

Jim Baker Carlyle Unocal

Rumsfeld With and Brown construction in Iraq
Largest construction company in Iraq Unocal

Condi Unocal

20 trillion spent in 6 years

20 trillion stolen in 6 years

We have to be strong and first admit Bush and Cheney orchestrated 9/11

What a sick thing.

Paul said in 2 timothy "The copper smith did much evil may god repay him with the same and more as he did to me.

I say may God repay those who orchestrate 9/11 and Iraq be repaid with the same and more than they gave.

I ask that God canker their stolen riches. Their name be blotted out of the lambs book of like and they find the destruction they have brought on others.

This is 1960 when you can tell a person anything. This is 2006 when communication allows the truth to circulate.

May God rain down the terror on the sick individuals as they have done to the 2500 dead in Iraq, 130,000 dead Iraqi's. 20,000 mutilated soldiers and the millions of houses detroyed.

May God do to them as they have done to others. I take no part with what Bush and his band of criminals have done.

We only have one thing to do. Plant 30 million acres of new corn or soy and replace petroleaum gas with ethanol gas. Lets us replace evil with good and allow the farms of America to reap what the Saudi Empire has reaped. The gas and diesel budget of the United States.

That will be my life work to accomplish that. Money be damned we have to this to be patriots.

Not for gain but for Godliness.

Help us Jesus we need your help.

Darryl A. Mast