This morning I read a remarkable and moving commentary on Patrick Kennedy. The piece reminded us that Mr. Kennedy is a man in legitmate pain and that our political system leaves no room for such things.
It also left me wondering just how many of our good and potentially valuable public servants are being driven from elected office by the two party culture war circus that seems to have replaced a credible democratic political process.
Are we devouring the humanity of the many men and women who have the potential to move our society in the direction of a healthier democracy? It's clearly no secret that money, dishonesty, showmanship and religious belief increasingly dictate winners and losers.
We know this and we do nothing about this; we just allow it to grow worse with each passing day.
When our politicians lie and flip flop we pull an intellectual 140 character Tweet and then move on. We seem to hold no one accountable for moral and ethical lapses. We spend much of our time focused on when someone will recover from a scandal, betrayal or lie--but rarely discuss punishment. And when someone like Patrick Kennedy is suffering, we leave him no choice but to flee.
What kind of nation would we have if we allowed our elected leaders to be human, to express themselves honestly without fear of Bible-thumping and to focus on governing the nation according to the United States Constitution rather than the fears, prejudices and Biblical mythologies that today dominate the national political conversation.
The First Amendment, including Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion practiced devoid of ethics is not a purist approach. Rather it is the beginning of chaos and fascism. We allow religion as an excuse to legitimaze bigotry and persecution of minorities. In the name of free speech we spew lies and deceipts as hourly evidenced by FOX News. We have abused our freedoms to allow horrific behavior because we have somehow assumed that freedom requires no ethical standards.
The post I read this morning on the Visiting Nurse Service of New York blog spoke of a grieving man--but his grieving may be as much for our political system as it is for his father.
Read the Patrick Kennedy VNSNY post here.