The United States is not a theocracy. That statement cannot be refuted, for the Founding Fathers made sure that religious liberty and freedom of conscience were building blocks of our republic.
However, to a man, those who created and built our nation believed in God and in the need for those who lived in America and those who led her to be Godly and Christian. Even those who probably would be classified as deists recognized the supremacy of a higher being in their lives and in the lives of the country they established. A few of the statements from these highly praised people show this.
“Righteousness alone can exalt [America] as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others… [T]he great pillars of all government and of social life: I mean virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.” –Patrick Henry — 1765
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams 1789
“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” – Thomas Jefferson — 1785
“To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness, which mankind now enjoys…Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government – and all blessings which flow from them – must fall with them.” –Jedidiah Morse –1799
A book could be written about the moral and Christian foundations of the United States. Though not ruled by a religious leader, those who built this nation believed that we could only survive by adhering to the tenets of the Bible, and when we veered from that path we would face calamity as a nation.
The Bible has several verses which speak to the problem of immorality in a nation and its leaders. Isaiah 10:1 What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.
Proverbs 29:2 When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice’ But when the wicked are in power, they groan.
Proverbs 28:2 When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily.
But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability.
But such high ideals have not been the staple of many who have held high office in our land. When we look at the lack of morality, both personal and public, of those who spent years in constructing the ‘shining city on a hill’ for the nations, we wonder at how we have survived. Again, a brief history of the moral failures of American politicians (and sometimes statesmen) will underline this premise.
We start with Alexander Hamilton, whose visage adorns our ten-dollar bill. Hamilton was arguably the most important figure in George Washington’s government as the Secretary of the Treasury. His tax and monetary policies made the new nation financially viable. Washington held Hamilton in the highest esteem.
Yet, Hamilton, in 1791 and 1792 carried on an affair with a woman not his wife. When this came to light, it severely damaged his reputation and put a damper on his future political aspirations.
Thomas Jefferson, third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, sired children by one of his slaves. This was publicized with the slave, Sally Hemmings, dubbed “Dusky Sally” by Jefferson’s political enemies. But he still was elected to two terms as Commander-in-Chief.
Some decades later, another flawed politician became President. Andrew Jackson, President from 1829-1837, hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, had, as leader of a militia which pursued renegade Indians into Spanish Territory, hanged two British subjects in that area. Several things were wrong with this action, yet he oversaw American policy for two terms. One of those policies led to the infamous and unjust Trail of Tears.
Personal morality was highlighted in the 1884 election for President. The winner, Grover Cleveland, admitted to a lengthy affair with a Buffalo widow, which produced a child. Cleveland helped support the woman and her child for years, yet he was reelected after losing in 1888, in 1892.
Warren Harding was another occupant of the Oval Office who slipped off the high moral ground. He had a daughter by a woman, other than his wife, before he took office. His reputation was of a ‘ladies’ man’ when he ran for President, but he was elected anyway.
It is now known that Franklin Roosevelt, who served 12 years plus as President, carried on a lifelong affair with someone other than Eleanor; reportedly this woman was present at his death. His wife was back home in Washington, D. C. when he expired in Warm Springs, Georgia in 1945. Still, he was elected to four terms in the highest office of the land.
John Kennedy was a serial womanizer before and during his Presidency. Historians do not have a total, but it is known he had affairs with movie stars, mob molls, White House interns and others. Yet for most people today JFK is held up as an icon of public servants.
His successor, Lyndon Johnson, was also a known adulterer. His forays into extramarital affairs spanned the years before he became President and during his tenure in office. He was elected in his own right in 1964 after much of this was known.
Next in line was the infamous Bill Clinton. When elected in 1992, the public was well aware of his numerous forays into infidelity and sexual harassment of women. One such accusation arguably rose to the level of sexual assault. His most notorious flirtation was with a White House intern 30 years younger than he. Still, he protected American family tradition by signing into law the Defense of Marriage Act.
In 2016 Donald Trump won the Oval Office in spite of three marriages and numerous liaisons with women not his wife. None of these happened when he was President, but his record was out there for voters to see and evaluate. Yet he was the most pro-life president we have ever had, had many close discussions with a number of ministers, and supported Christian values.
Now we come to the present crop of ‘leaders’ in Washington, D. C. and elsewhere. We now have a President who admittedly (though he claimed inadvertently) plagiarized work from others. He did this in law school and took parts of the speeches of others when on the campaign trail. Joe Biden’s sniffing of women’s hair and touching women came to the attention of the media during his tenure as Vice-President for Barack Obama. During the campaign he made many false assertions, repeating the one about Trump’s words about the Charlottesville rally about neo-Nazis and white supremacists, a claim that even some leftist media admits was a lie. Biden has also been accused of sexual assault.
His Vice-President, Kamala Harris, made her way in California politics by having a four-year affair with the powerful leader of the Democrats in that state, who was married and was twice her age, an affair admitted to by both people involved.
We don’t have space or energy to detail the moral laxness displayed by elected officials on both sides of the political aisle. But the question remains — when will the public finally demand some morality and ethics from candidates for office?
In my memory, only two Presidential elections have been contests between two men who had no scandals they lugged around with them: 1976 when Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter faced off, and in 1980 when Ronald Reagan and Carter vied for the Presidency. Perhaps 1984 fits into that category, but most of the rest during my lifetime featured at least one if not two ethically or morally challenged candidates.
Trump’s second impeachment featured deceptively edited videos of the President, and a continuation of lies about his performance and connections while in office, produced by a complicit media with the full support of Democrat leadership.
No candidate for the Presidency can run for office without at least giving lip service to loyalty to a higher power. Some even tout their faith in order to sway voters to pull the lever for them. A case in point was Joe Biden’s claim to be a practicing Catholic, a claim parroted by the mainstream media as a counterpoint to Trump’s supposed irreligiosity. At least one Catholic prelate contends that Biden is not a good adherent to the faith because of his support of abortion. Trump, on the other hand, paraded out a succession of clerics who supported his candidacy.
But declaring one’s allegiance to God and the Church and the Church’s teachings is far different than living those teachings and exhibiting the qualities God wants in our lives. If we cannot see faith in action in those who seek public office, we are left with a choice of which one is the lesser of two evils, a cliché which accurately portrays so many of our recent political contests.
As Christians, we should pray that good people of faith are willing to seek public office for the good of all the people. Until then, we must select the best of those who do so, even if the choices are not what we wish.