Explaining Our Deplorable State

"But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."
--V (V for Vendetta)

From Herbert's essay discussed in yesterday's post, here's a passage that well captures today's political environment:

"In presence of unlimited power lodged in the hands of those who govern, in the absence of any universal acknowledgment of individual rights, the stakes for which men played would be so terribly great that they would shrink from no means to keep power out of the hands of their opponents. Not only would the scrupulous man become unscrupulous, and the pitiful man cruel, but the parties into which society divided itself would begin to perceive that to destroy or be destroyed was the one choice lying in front of them."

All the more interesting when one considers that this was penned in 1885.

Those scratching their heads and wondering how our political affairs have evolved into such a deplorable state need only look in the mirror. As we have relaxed limits on the constitutional powers delegated to central government, then there is more power to grab. Factions will become increasingly motivated to capture and retain that power using whatever means possible.

The other implication is that until or unless restraints are re-applied to central government, then expect the deplorable state of politics to worsen.