Like Demosthenes in ancient Greece, we search among the top officials of the US government for an “honest man.” As we search among the list of federal agencies and top appointees, we are hard put to find an agency, organization or commission that has not yielded corruption on the part of top political appointees. Almost every day produces another example of the broad and pervasive reach of venality and self serving abuse of authority among these officials serving at the behest and at the pleasure of President Bush. Scooter Libby has shone us a glimpse of the level of pettiness and corruption in the halls of the White House. From that center, the malaise seems to have spread across the entire federal bureaucracy.
The malfeasance in the context of foreign affairs has been widely exposed, ranging from those involved in arranging lucrative no bid contracts in return for bribes and special favors to those approving the use of torture against prisoners and chemical weapons against civilians in violation of international law and treaties. On the domestic front, we have been shone the incompetence of FEMA and the corruption within the Corps of Engineers who are entrusted with the mission of helping prevent disasters and supporting civilian aid and recovery in the event of natural disasters. The Department of the Interior has been headed by appointed officials intent upon selling off protected natural wilderness and wildlife habitats and who has been seeking to facilitate oil exploration in the Alaskan Natural Wildlife Reserve. The Environmental Protection Agency had to be forced by the courts to undertake rulemaking on carbon emissions because its leaders were so deep in the pocket of oil and energy producer industries that they refused to accept that global warming exists as a real problem.
Even the Justice Department, the executive agency most heavily relied upon for adherence to and enforcement of the “rule of law” in this country, is under intense scrutiny by Congress because of potentially illegal conduct involving its top officials. US Attorneys were fired and replaced by officials at the top of the DOJ because they were not aggressive in filing indictments and lawsuits designed to influence election outcomes in favor of GOP candidates, something the US Attorneys viewed as unprofessional and unethical. The President of the World Bank resigned over direct conflict of interest violations in awarding a huge pay increase to his girlfriend and then lying about it. Now the Chief Inspector at the Department of Commerce is under fire for retaliation against his subordinates who blew the whistle on his improper use of agency funds for personal trips and entertainment. Keep in mind that his primary job is to protect whistleblowers and to investigate claims of improper conduct by employees of the Commerce Department.
Throughout the entire cauldron of alphabet soup we find example after example of illegal actions, politically motivated misconduct and avaricious self dealing. The FDA, CIA, FBI, DOJ, EPA, DOI, CPSC, NOAA, OSC and on and on. It has been said that the true power of a President and the character of an Administration lies not in any one particular milieu he may govern, but in the moral tone that he sets for those to whom he delegates responsibility. Whether a leader exhibits a character of holding himself accountable for his decisions and actions, or instead seeks to deflect blame and responsibility until he gets caught red handed is a message that gets transmitted to those appointees chosen to carry out the directives of that leader.
As we go down the list of agencies and organizations, crossing off one after another, the hope of finding leadership that can pass the simple test of honesty and integrity grows dimmer and dimmer. To be sure, each corrupt official, like Wolfowitz, protests that he acted in good faith. Actions, however, speak louder than words. We continue to hope that there is some public agency led by an honest public servant, and so we continue to search as did Demosthenes. The philosophy of Demosthenes can be applied by a very simple litmus. “You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.”
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