The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is reflected in today’s Washington Post with its cartoon of the “new and improved White House.” The new planned ballroom which will cost you and me $200 million is larger and has a three additions: a helipad for donors, a champagne moat, and a gift shop. Oh, and there’s a golf course on the front lawn.
What this cartoon speaks to is the corruption that runs through the government like a raging river. Give a million or two, and your tax cheat son gets pardoned from all of the crimes he committed, including keeping the Social Security payments for the employees in his nursing home industry. The Teapot Dome scandal pales by comparison.
And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Business and Big Oil, anxious to curry favor, have unloaded millions into the anticipated presidential library (for a man who eschews real literature), crypto investors enrich family members, and grabbing up prime real estate is the order of the day. In April Elizabeth Warren read 100 acts of financial corruption into the Congressional Record. We should ask how many more since then.
Prayer for the Day
While we, the people, cry out against the acts we see, O God,
Corporations rub their hands in anticipation of reward;
Where is your judgment, O Lord, against moneyed interests
Currying favor to gain even more wealth?
Save us, O Holly One, from those who care only for themselves,
Move us into action against the stench of corruption.
In the name of the One who drove out the moneychangers,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Since its enactment in 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 78dd-1 et seq.) (FCPA) has been systematically, and to a steadily increasing degree, stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States. Current FCPA enforcement impedes the United States’ foreign policy objectives and therefore implicates the President’s Article II authority over foreign affairs.
The White House, February 10, 2025
When wilt thou save the people, O God of mercy, when,
Not kings and lords, but nations, not thrones and crowns, but men>
Steven Schwartz, lyrics from Godspell
So the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth;
For the wicked surround the righteous, and justice is perverted.
Habakkuk 1:4