Saturday, March 24, 2007
A MAN WITH NO GUILE
In the Gospel of John (1:47) Jesus says to the other disciples as Nathanael approaches, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile." That was a high compliment, and certainly a desired characteristic in a prospective disciple.
How great it would be if we could look among our elected politicians and make a similar statement about any of them -- democrat or republican. But then how many of us, the electorate, would in truth qualify for such an accolade?
The Militant Moderate looks again and again at the political chicanery in our state and national capitols, and he is prone to repeat the questions of his last essay: "Have you no sense of decency? Have you no shame?"
It emerges that one political party in Oklahoma has been holding supplemental funds for schools hostage, supposedly to extract a promise from the other party for a tax cut. The Governor was left out.
On a bipartisan vote, the legislature has passed resolutions in both houses for a vote to take school land revenues from colleges and schools and send these to repair the neglected teacher retirement system.
This is worse than robbing Peter to pay Paul. This would be robbing NOC, NWOSU, OU, Langston, OSU, and other collges, as well as all public schools, to pay for past neglect. This would require a vote of the people, plus and endless legal battle over breaking a constitutional trust written in conformity with the Enabling Act of Congress under which Oklahoma became a state.
Let us consider for a moment our venerable politician, former Senator Gene Stipe, also in the news lately. Many of us in public life have known Stipe for decades. We have had friends in common, some deceased. The senator supported every good educational measure that we can remember.
Certainly, Senator Stipe could never be described as "a man with no guile."
Senator Stipe was loaded with guile. He was recognized as one of the better trial lawyers in the country. His defense of the young corporal from Calvin in his district, from an alleged atrocity in Viet Nam, was a Stipe classic, although performed in a strange court on the other side of the planet. Stipe had lots of good friends, and he took care of those.
Generally speaking, Stipe used his guile for good -- his constituents and his own. But he had powerful enemies. The eventually got him, after he had lost much of his guile.
During the last decade or so, Senator Stipe, now in his mid 80's, has lost much of his former brilliance. He has made dumb mistakes. Those who have known him could easily recognize that he has experienced a decline, and that he is but a shell of his former grandeur in guile. Gene needs a good advisor, rather than a prosecutor.
Few of us are without guile. We use it for various purposes.
Most politicians have a lot of it, and they choose to use it for different purposes according to expediency and priorities at the time. "Straight Talk" may be the name on a bus, but currently this title fits no one in the presidential race. At least, such remains to be established.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
