What tricks do Ambition (the Love of Power) and Avarice (the Love of Money) play on the life of one who aspires toward public service? What type of men (and women) will these vices tend to attract?
Mr. Yeltsin understood what can happen when
ordinary citizens lose faith in their government:
Without faith (in our leadership) even the best and
most enlightened changes in our society will be impossible to accomplish. And when people know about the blatant social
inequality that persists, they see that their leader is doing nothing to
correct the elite’s shameful appropriation of luxuries paid for from the public
purse, then the last droplets of the faith will evaporate.
And when faith evaporates, change
follows. The only point of discussion is
one of degree.
Let’s redirect our attention to early America , to the time during which the US Constitution was drafted in 1789. From the earliest days of the republic, Ben Franklin had warned of the inherent danger of ambition and greed, when combined, having the human tendency to turn posts of honor into places of profit, or an establishment paradise. Upon returning home after
participation in the secret deliberations, Franklin was said to have had an inquisitive exchange with a Philadelphia woman:
“What have you made for us, Dr. Franklin?”
the woman had wanted to know.
“A republic, madam, if you can keep it,” Franklin replied.
In a speech at the Constitutional Convention,
Ben Franklin discussed the merits of limiting the perks of our elected
lawmakers within the laws of human nature:
Sir, there are two Passions which have a powerful
influence in the Affairs of Men. These
are Ambition and Avarice; the Love of Power and the Love of Money. Separately, each of these has great Force in
prompting Men to Action; but when united in View of the same Object, they have
in many Minds the most violent Effects.
Place before the Eyes of such Men a Post of Honour, that shall at the same time be a Place of Profit, and they will move Heaven and
Earth to obtain it. The vast Number of
such Places it is that renders the British Government so tempestuous. The Struggles for them are the true Source of
all those Factions which are perpetually dividing the Nation, distracting its
Councils, hurrying it sometimes into fruitless and mischievous Wars, and often
compelling a Submission to dishonourable Terms of Peace.
He turned to the type of men which such personal incentives would attract:
And of what kind are the men that will strive for this
profitable Preeminence, thro’ all the Bustle of Cabal, the Heat of Contention, the
infinite mutual Abuse of Parties, tearing to Pieces the best of
Characters? It will not be the wise and
moderate, the Lovers of Peace and good Order, the men fittest for the Trust. It will be the Bold and the Violent, the men
of strong Passions and indefatigable Activity in their selfish Pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your
Government, and be your Rulers. And
these, too, will be mistaken in the expected Happiness of their Situation; for
their vanquish’d competitors, of the same Spirit, and from the same Motives,
will perpetually be endeavoring to distress their Administration, thwart their
Measures, and render them odious to the People.
Those personal gains would be smeared into
the fabric of our bedrock institutions, where they would leave an
impressionable and lasting stain. And before long, augmentations would be sought, leading to a tipping point pitting the governing against the governed:
Besides these Evils, Sir, tho’ we may set out in the
Beginning with Moderate Salaries, we shall find, that such will not be of long
Continuance. Reasons will never be
wanting for propos’d Augmentations; and there will always be a Party for giving
more to the Rulers, that the Rulers may be able in Return to give more to them. Hence, as all History informs us, there has
been in every State and Kingdom a constant kind of Warfare between the
Governing and the Governed; the one striving to obtain more for its Support,
and the other to pay less. And this has
alone occasion’d great Convulsions, actual civil Wars, ending either in
dethroning the Princes or enslaving the People.
Generally, indeed, the Ruling Power carries its Point, and we see the
Revenues of Princes constantly increasing, and we see that they are never
satisfied, but always in want of more.
The more the People are discontented with the Oppression of Taxes, the
greater Need the Prince has of Money to distribute among his Partisans, and pay
the Troops that are to suppress all Resistance, and enable him to plunder at
Pleasure. There is scarce a King in a
hundred, who would not, if he could, follow the Example of Pharaoh, --- get
first all the People’s Money, then all their Lands, and then make them and
their Children Servants for ever. ... But this Catastrophe, I think, may be long
delay’d, if in our propos’d System we do not sow the Seeds of Contention,
Faction, and Tumult, by making our Posts of Honour Places of Profit. …
(The third and final segment in our three part series turns to a discussion of property rights, a man-made proposition, shifting to Andrew Jackson, the President of the Common Man, before concluding in the present.)
-Michael D'Angelo
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