“Corruption” – Kent Lundgren

Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to govern any other.
John Adams

To anyone who cares to pay attention it should be quite obvious that practically every government entity in this county is full of corruption. It becomes very easy to look the other way and try to say that it doesn’t affect me but I think we all know that is just not true. Whether it be our children or grandchildren’s education, our jobs, our churches and organizations, all are evenually corrupted.

The following was written by a man named Kent Lundgren who is the chairman of the National Association of former border patrol officers. He is speaking about corruption and its effects on society in general and it has a lot of relevance for us here today.

The real threat that we should fear, one that can destroy the American we know, is corruption. Corruption is what makes possible drug trafficking on the scope we see in Mexico. When we think ‘corruption’ we tend to think of an officer accepting bribe money to let a load of drugs go through, or stealing money that he has seized or getting sexual favors in return for turning a blind eye to criminal activity. {any of this sound familiar?} It is all that of course-but we must expand our thought horizons. What of a politician who accepts campaign money to introduce a bill that makes it easier for the bad guys? Or a reporter who blows off a story? Or a prosecuter’s secretary who misses a critical filing deadline in a case that forces a case to be dismissed. The list of possibilites is long.

To a degree remarkable among the nations of the world, America operates on trust. Trust in each other and in our institutions. Erode and destroy that trust and we become no better and no different than Mexico or Egypt. That is exactly what drug cartels, terrorist groups, and many others around the world and among us are hoping for and counting on.