I asked the above question in a recent Townhall column, and the answer is fairly obvious. Every human being has his/her weaknesses, things that “tempt” them to do what they shouldn’t do. Some people are enticed by drugs, or sex, or money, or some combination of all three. Self-control is the most difficult virtue of all. “Virtue is the only good,” Antisthenes of Athens wrote, “and self-control is the only means of achieving virtue.” Virtue is the “only good” only if we include all other noble qualities within its definition, which, I suspect, is what Antisthenes meant.
Plato concurred with Antisthenes: “The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.” Only the best of humans can control their carnal desires, and even they do not do so perfectly.
As I noted in my previous column, a politician’s biggest “weakness,” his most irresistible temptation, the one that very few politicians in history have ever been able to conquer, is power. That desire for fame, glory, exaltation, to be known and watched, and (hopefully) admired. That lust to change people’s lives, to have dominion over them, to compel them to do what the politician wishes them to do, and to command them to go in directions the politician desires (e.g., buy an EV). Politicians have that craving to “go down in history” as a famous person who affected the lives of other people. And indeed, most politicians do affect and change the lives of people, but tragically, all too often for the worse. They think they are smarter than we are and can run our lives better than we can. And that is the greatest, most obnoxious and detestable arrogance of all.
This lust for power does not disappear in a democracy or a republic; indeed, in some ways it is enhanced. The politician is supposed to “represent” his/her constituents, but that doesn’t mean give them everything they want. A virtuous politician will lead the people in the proper direction, towards personal self-control, frugality, and excellence. The problem is, sometimes that isn’t what the people want, and the power-hungry politician will then succumb to the often-fatal desires of the mob.
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” Benjamin Franklin agreed: “When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” And then, there is the famous quote from historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy.” James Madison, the “father” of our Constitution, said, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” That is not a proper function of government. But it is awfully easy for power-hungry, small-minded, and short-sighted politicians to buy votes with other people’s money. They have been doing it in America for several generations now with the result that the government is $36+ trillion in debt.
Nobody should be opposed to charity, and all of us should practice it. The problem with government doing it is when politicians start handing out free money, it’s not just those who truly need it who stand in line to get it; free money will attract all sort of lazy riffraff who don’t want to work or contribute to the well-being of society. Or, they come from all over the world to get the “freebies” that Congress and Democratic Party governments distribute. This is absolutely nothing but an attempt, by politicians, to buy votes in order to stay in power. And it usually succeeds. Nobody bites the hand that feeds them.
Creating a class of citizens who are dependent upon government is not healthy for any country. Again, this is not an argument against helping the truly needy poor, but, as Madison said, that’s not a function of government. As implied, when government does it, such creates two problems—one, it produces a class of government slaves who live off hard-working people and do not contribute to society’s prosperity and well-being, and two, it encourages weak, power-hungry people to run for public office—the very kind of people not needed in government. But that is the kind of politicians Americans now elect.
Joe Biden is a classic example of a pusillanimous, power-hungry politician. He is a very weak man, a very weak politician, a very weak leader. Indeed, he has never been a “leader” at all, only a follower. Two decades ago, he said that marriage was only between a man and a woman, and that abortion should be rare and safe, but when his Leftist Democratic Party decided to descend further into the toilet than it already was at the time, Biden, rather than standing up, being strong and virtuous, and leading people back to decency and excellence, tagged along after his party’s further descent into the sewer. That’s not what positive leaders do; that’s what weak people do. That’s what sheep do. But Joe Biden lusted for power. He cared more about that than he did for his God or his country, and he often sacrificed both while he was President (and, frankly, before). A weak man, a slave to power (among other things). And, not surprisingly, once he gained the Presidency, the country suffered mightily because of his spinelessness.
Politicians are human, of course, and have their weaknesses and temptations, like we all do. The tragedy is, the politician’s greatest weakness, the lust for power, can, and has in history, caused untold damage to countless billions.
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