Politics is NOT a Four-Letter Word

(This is a statement made by participants in the Maston Colloquium meeting in Dallas on August 6. Their names are affixed with their positions provided for identification purposes only. Sponsored by the Center for Christian Ethics, the Colloquium is named for the pioneer Christian ethicist, Dr. T. B. Maston. This particular Colloquium was a seriously intentional day-long conversation among knowledgeable persons from widely divergent backgrounds and disciplines who sought to come to grips with an important ethical issue, bring Christian insights and convictions to bear on it, and propose some specific and practical actions to help our society move forward in some new and better directions.)

We are a company of committed Christians concerned about the growing inclination among many Americans to despise government and detest those who govern. Cheap shots, from television comedy routines to written commentaries, have seriously eroded public respect for government.

This trend constitutes a clear and present danger in American public life.

We believe that politics is not a fourletter word, that government is not inherently evil, and that not all politicians are by definition crooked.

We recognize that those who govern are capable of shameful misconduct and can be wasteful, extravagant, incompetent, and dishonest. Government nearly always stands in need of correction and improvement. But Americans should not get carried away with all this current criticism that threatens to throw out the baby with the bath water. This season of high-decibel emphasis on politics and political issues is the right moment, we believe, to look at the problem and consider some appropriate moves to correct it.

We are concerned about several aspects of the current anti-government mind-set.

1. A rising tide of animosity and hostility toward government threatens to undermine the ability of anyone to govern. Incessant attacks on government erode the moral code of our communities, our cities, our states, and our nation, drawing us toward mindless acts of anti-government terrorism such as the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing.

2. A paralyzing political gridlock is developing. This shut-down mentality has been nurtured by bumper-sticker politics, sound-bite “solutions” to complex public issues, and simplistic sloganeering. The polarizing effect of such behavior by doctrinaire extremists unwilling to countenance the slightest variation form their dogma has threatened to halt government in its tracks.

3 . A shocking cynicism about virtually all forms of government has become commonplace. This cynicism has been fostered all too often by politicians themselves who, at the very highest levels, have identified the government as the problem and who have run against the government in order to get in the government.

4. The trend toward dismantling government is the path to social disaster. The recent stampede to abolish selected government services through defederalization, deregulation, and privatization is putting at risk those whom Jesus Christ called “the least of these my brethren” — the poorest and most needy, the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Less government is not necessarily better government; and local government is not necessarily better government. We especially deplore the inconsistency of those chronic government bashers who want to take a meat ax to the programs for the weak while providing pork barrels of government goodies for their own favored special interests.

5. A chilling departure from government service by experienced elected officials is a grave warning signal for America. When, amidst the rumble of cynicism and mounting disapproval of government, men and women of stature and integrity abandon public office in record numbers, the moral center for public policy formation erodes, statesmanship withers away, and the ship of state gets taken over by the inexperienced and the second- rate.

Against this sobering backdrop, what hope is there? What is to be said? What can be done? If America is to press forward with our noble vision of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, some clear understandings are needed.

1. Government is of God. Government authority is derived from God’s authority. Government is God’s way, in this kind of world, for humanity to live together in some semblance of order, justice, and peace instead of chaos, oppression, and war.

2. Government is necessary. There are some things that only government can do. Among these are such things as public safety, public education, criminal justice, and military defense. Theodore Roosevelt said, “The national government belongs to the whole American people and where the whole American people are interested, that interest can be guarded effectively only by the national government.” That insight is equally valid for state and local governments within their different spheres.

3. Government is capable of doing good and important work. Government has a unique capacity to establish justice, do the things that make for peace, improves the lives of the people, and serve the common good. Government is singularly able to use its sovereign authority to constrain evil, limit oppression, and ward off anarchy.

4. Government needs informed and committed citizens. Ignorance about government is a sin against God; and indifference toward government is an affront to our forebears who at great sacrifice launched the grand enterprise that has become America.

5. Government deserves the understanding and support of the American people. From town councils to county commissioners to state legislatures and to the national government, the entire apparatus of government needs to be tended, watched, supported, and sometimes corrected. Withdrawal from the process is not a live option for responsible people. America needs us all to pitch in and make it work.

Government is worthy of the support of every American citizen. Indeed, politics is not a four-letter word.

Signed:

Patricia Ayres, Christian Social Concerns Activist, Austin, Texas

Harold F. Bass, Professor of Political Science, Oauchita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas

P. Oswin Chrisman, Lawyer, Dallas, Texas

Ross Coggin, Writer, U. S. State Department, (Retired), Annapolis, Maryland

David R. Currie, Coordinator, Texas Baptists Committed, San Angelo, Texas

James Dunn, Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.

Curtis W. Freeman, Associate Professor of Christianity and Philosophy, Houston Baptist University, Houston,Texas

Curtis V. Pierard, Professor of History, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana

Foy Valentine, President, The Center for Christian Ethics, Dallas, Texas

Weston Ware, Christian Life Commission Associate, Dallas, Texas

Hal Wingo, Journalist and Professor, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

September 1996