Ordinary people find no difference between men.

1670 Pascal wrote “The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.” Please pray with me . . .

December 23, 2007

Dear Fellow Concerned Citizen,

In 2007 Ann Coulter titled a book “IF DEMOCRATS HAD ANY BRAINS THEY’D BE REPUBLICANS”. The title is quite insulting, actually, but then that is Ann’s style, isn’t it?

In 1670 Pascal wrote “The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.”

I have contemplated the relationship between these two statements.

Ms. Coulter might say that Pascal was foretelling that the elected Democrats who want to see no difference between men, are not the “more intelligent”.

I would propose that Congress as a whole is dumbed down, and has a tendency to seek compromise and consolation in the lowest-common-denominator. I would propose that Pascal might have been foretelling – or better yet, forewarning – regarding most all of the democracies elected officials, worldwide.

I, for one, refuse to believe that the elected members of congress – representing either party – are, as a whole, representative of the electorate that sent them to Washington.

Yes, yes – there are many exceptions, but I tend to believe that those “many” still only add up to a minority of those elected.

Furthermore, I have concluded that to win elections in today’s American political system, one has to be “calculating”, and that calculating is not directly related to “wisdom”.

We have elected 535 citizens to Congress – all quite successful “calculators”, but alas, only a few willing and able to display wisdom.

This is the one great failing of our country – the ONE great failing – our pervasiveness to elect calculating people, without the electorate discerning (and sometimes not caring) whether that calculating politician is a vessel of wisdom.

The entirety of the 50 United States are carved up into 435 Congressional districts. I wonder – if a poll were taken in each of those districts, how many of those districts would select their locally elected congressional representative as their “hero”? And if you have a problem with the word hero, how about polling to select the most honorable and wise person in their district – how many such districts would say it was their congressional representative?

If you agree with me that the congressional representative would be selected the most honorable and wise person in their district in only rare instances, then you might also agree with me that our system of democracy does not generally select our best and brightest to represent us. If not our wisest, then who goes to Washington? Perhaps you’d then agree with my assertion that it we tend to send forth our most calculating citizens to Congress.

Now, isn’t that a scary thought? Set aside the best and brightest, and call forth instead the most calculating?

There is an old saying that most of us are familiar with “People tend to get the government that they deserve”. I do not know whom to ascribe this pearl of wisdom to, but I certainly would agree with it vis-à-vis a democracy, if the phrase were to be reworded that “People tend to get a lesser government than they deserve, because they tend to send their lesser citizens off to represent them”.

And please remember, I DO NOT MEAN TO IMPUGNE ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. I certainly hold more than a few in high esteem, yet that lot is but a few of those who are currently serving.

This is not a gripe-session, but instead an opening prelude to a prayer request of mine.

For me, this is a holy season, as it is for most (though, not all) spiritual people.

I would ask you to pray for all democratic people – not just here in the U.S., but in democracies all around the world as well – to be better able to discern honor and wisdom – perhaps we can combine that into one adjective, “authentic” – in our election processes. Yes, let’s pray that voters are better able to discern who the authentic candidates are, and that those authentic candidates are elected to represent the people, and though bureaucracies might tend to extol corruption, that our authentic representatives stand fast and rise far above the lowest-common-denominator and better represent the entirety of their constituencies.

“Politics As Usual” will always result in less fairness from government – and often times, less fair becomes dangerous, first for one group, then another and another, until at last government is fair only for government itself, and not at all for the people.

May God bless you this holy season, and may you join with me in prayer that we voters are better able to discern authenticity, and that such characteristic becomes the common denominator of our elected officials – throughout the world.