History tells us that kings have had an unfortunate habit of demanding absolute loyalty, sometimes to their detriment. At times, absolute fealty to what a king believed about himself cost him his head, such as Charles I of England. For Cnut, or Canute, as he is usually known, it only cost him wet feet.
However, demanding fealty in face of the facts is costing our defense intelligence more than wet feet. Over the past several months, including this past week, respected military and civilian personnel have been fired because their assessments did not agree with what our esteemed leader wanted to hear. This is dangerous to our national security.
The world is not what we want it to be but needs to be realistically assessed, whether we like the results or not. In the world of 1984, George Orwell had the character O’Brien say: “We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested in power, pure power…Power is not a means; it is the end.” Will silent voices rise like the waves?
Prayer for the Day
Sometimes, O God, unsure of what is happening around us,
We don’t know how political events will shape our lives;
Sometimes, O Lord, we just shake our heads,
Wondering where the Canutes of our day will take us.
Give us more than fortitude and perseverance,
For at times we feel we are floundering.
In the name of the One who is our strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.
Hannah Arendt, from The Origins of Totalitarianism (1906-1975)
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
H.L. Menken, American essayist from In Defense of Women (1880-1956)
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
Things we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us.
Psalm 78: 1-3