Today’s Scripture Reading (November 5,
2015): Deuteronomy 19
I know no
one seems to be talking about him, but Mike Huckabee is impressing me in the
Republican Leadership Campaign. Okay, I get that he hasn’t really said a whole
lot in his debates, but at least he seems to be able to identify the enemy.
Last week, during the Third Republican Debate, Huckabee was asked about his
comment that the President needed to be a Moral Leader. But instead of being
asked what a moral leader might look like in a Huckabee World, the commentator
asked whether Donald Trump would be able to fulfill the requirements of a moral
leader and a moral President. In that moment, Huckabee had a choice. He could perpetuate
more half-truths or out-right lies intended to take down his fellow contender,
or he could do what he did and focus the attention on where it needs to be, the
Republican Parties Arch Nemesis the Democratic Party. I thought Huckabee had
the quote of the night “I love Donald Trump – I am wearing his tie.” Maybe it
is because the applicants on the Democratic side are fewer in number but, they
haven’t seemed to have lost the focus on the fact that all that matters is
defeating the Republican Party in an election that is now barely a year away.
I would have
loved to have heard Huckabee’s answer as to what a moral leader looks like, because
I don’t think that I am seeing many around lately. But let me give you my
answer. A moral leader is one that has the ability to rise above the mudslinging.
A moral leader is concerned with the idea of truth and will work to find it. A
moral leader is the antithesis of the leader that I am witnessing in any of the
political debates, which seems to find its strength in twisting facts to make
someone else look less and themselves look more. A moral leader deals with
truth, no matter what the outcome might be. And Huckabee is right, what every
nation – not just the United States – needs is a moral leader.
I am tired
of fact-checking the politicians. After every debate, we get a list from the
news agencies telling us when the politicians lied to us. Apparently the
politicians aren’t reading the lists – they really should – because they seem
to want to tell the same lies over and over again even after their comments
have been debunked. Maybe they think that we are not watching and that we believe
everything that they say. A moral leader doesn’t have to be fact checked.
And this is
really the focus of this command in Deuteronomy. An example must be made of the
ones who intend to mislead. What they intended to do to others, must be visited
on themselves. If it was a false accusation of murder that is given against a
person, then the penalty that the accused would have received must be applied
to the one giving the false testimony. Lying is a serious offense because it
violates the trust of the community.
If only we
would apply the same standard in politics. As we read the Fact Check lists and
see consistent abusers of our trust, the penalty that they deserve to receive is
the loss of our vote. It is the only way that Huckabee’s, or Moses’, moral
leadership can become a reality.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Deuteronomy 20
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