'Cultural Corruption'...

'Cultural Corruption'...

SARASOTA, FL. (NS/TCC) -

As America observes the unfolding carnage in Haiti, we have been brutally reminded of our blessings. As we shift our recliners to more comfortable positions, we might pause a moment to ponder a deeper truth - those blessings do not convey immunity.

'No Free Rides' -

As a conservative appreciative of our country's traditional values, it is a personal belief that prosperity and safety are not without cost. The Bible, reinforced by nature and the test of experience, assures us that nothing is free and the pretense of such is anything but loving.

God may have made men equal, but such is certainly not the case with cultures. Whatever romantic attributes previously granted to Haitian culture were grievously assaulted by recent events. The broken rock fault under Haiti has revealed a long standing cultural fault on top of Haiti.

In spite of the lessons of history and this current event so close to our shores, most Americans believe we retain an inevitable destiny of power and security. To do anything else would require we step around the soft allure of comfort and face the much more demanding mistress of accountability.

'Confronting the Anointed' -

In my home town a couple of dozen Tea Party members recently stepped away from their comfort zones to confront elected officials returning from a junket. The state legislator and county commission chair flew in from Hawaii, an island paradise coincidently located at about the same latitude as the paradise lost - Haiti.

The benefits of a tax payer funded vacation evidently included a respective four thousand dollar dose of Maui's version of 'chutzpa' - Hebrew for 'audacious entitlement'. It seems that both officials were stricken with the crucial importance of their roles on the Airport Authority and the daunting skill sets necessary to that function. Hawaii was clearly the only place to properly acquire those proficiencies.

Those with a resistance to chicken manure marketed as chicken salad have tilted their heads at the assertion that board membership necessitates exotic trips to tropical vistas. Those acquainted with books, the Internet, and other affordable and accessible learning tools were equally skeptical of the attitude of personal entitlement cheerfully defended as an act of accountability. It is apparent that awareness of a real national unemployment rate approaching 20% and enough debt to mortgage the future of our children's children is not one of the skill sets of an information deprived airport authority.

Insult was added to injury when it was learned that Mr. Commissioner wanted to be reimbursed for using his frequent flyer miles for the trip. Audacity was added to absurdity when it was discovered that Mrs. Legislator graciously shared her room when her family showed up in Hawaii to enhance her learning experience.

'The Politics of the Bright Lie' -

The corruption of truth by smooze artists has become the accepted model of politics in today's America. The effort by these co-conspirators to paint a bright coating of necessity over an exercise in long-distance frivolity was far too typical. We lost Lord Acton in the last century, but his quote about "power corrupting" has certainly traveled well into this one.

Thanks are due to the eighteen people who left their recliners and held a confrontation luau for these culture vultures posing as community leaders. Such activism is a living manifestation of anthropologist Margaret Mead's assertion - "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

'Progressive Corruptions' -

The country of Haiti shares an island with the Dominican Republic. There are few better places to note the dual potentials of cultures. On one side of the border strive a hopeful people grounded to a developing foundation of liberty, opportunity, and responsibility. On the other struggles a desperate people floundering in a swamp of tyranny, stagnancy, and despair. Neither reality is accidental or inevitable. Both resulted from incremental cultural decisions.

Corruption exists in all societies. Left unchallenged, it can grow here just as surely as anywhere else. It will take lots of "small groups of thoughtful committed citizens" to turn the tide of America's slide to dark places.

Taking the fight to our tainted leaders is a good place to start. Just as evil rarely comes to us with glowing eyes and a forked tail, corrupt politicians rarely step into the sunshine - especially when returning from wasteful junkets to Hawaii - without a bodyguard of lies. Deceit festers in the hearts of the corrupted - such people cannot protect America's future.

Cultures taking the potentials of evil for granted risk forces of destruction holding even greater fury than an earthquake. It behooves us to look to the unfolding tragedy in Haiti for the potentials of the progressive corruption of our own culture. We need not wait for an earthquake to leave our recliners...

Until later, that's it from me...

Dr. Carl Mumpower

'The Candid Conservative'