The news media report that many Americans are tired of hearing about the
Clinton/Lewinsky affair. It is reported that whatever the President does in his private life
is his business and that such matters should be between him and his family.
I concur that everyone has a right to a certain amount of privacy, however,
when circumstances include lying under oath, obstructing justice, looking the American people
straight in the eye (via reporters) and lying to the whole world, the breakdown of trust to the
American people, and YEARS of sexual predatoriousness, then the matter becomes my business -
our business - the business of the American people, who voted him into the highest office of the
land. (I didn’t vote for him either time, but I’m stuck with him. I could not in conscience vote
for a man that could see nothing wrong with killing an unborn, (even full-term) baby by literally
having its brains vacuumed out of its head.)
I think it is wrong for Americans not to give a “hoot” about Clinton’s grave
unfaithfulness. Somehow it doesn’t seem that his personal betrayal of his wife (for years, as
he did finally admit to having an affair with Jennifer Flowers that lasted 12 years, by the way),
can be overlooked by a nation whose top leader can justify such evil. Remember last week I
wrote that a person has ONE conscience which operates for him in both his public actions as
well as his private actions.
If a President of the United States can cheat on his wife so very many times,
could he not also cheat on his country? Think about it! His wife should be the most important
earthly person in his life. If he can “betray” her, could he not betray his country? If he can lie,
looking the country square in the eye, could he not lie the same way in other matters? If his
conscience is so calloused that he could commit these acts in private, then beware! The
“lapse of judgment” which he acknowledged in his “regret” speech, is very capable of “lapsing
in matters regarding the leading of our nation.
The Italians have a saying. It’s a little gross, but a lot of things
Italians say can be categorized that way. (I’m of Italian descent, so I’m including myself.)
The saying is: “The fish smells from the head.”
In other words, catch a fish, lay it on the ground, and in its death, it
begins to smell from the head first.
The leader of any organization sets the tone. I’ve seen this over and again
in Religious life. Jesus was right when he called us “sheep,” because sheep are very good at following,
not leading.
IF the majority of people in our country have adopted the attitude that
"Well, everyone lies about sex!" and thereby excuses the President for his actions, then I think our
country is in a worse moral state than I had thought.
In his “regret” speech, the President said the matter was “private.” I think
he really meant that he wanted it to be SECRET. Because once a President deliberately lies to
Americans, the matter becomes their business and therefore cannot be personal to him and his family alone.
God help us. And God bless you, the reader.