Politicians can be Straightforward, Sometimes

Abstract

‘Inside every politician,’ it has been said, ‘there is a decent man trying to get out’. A cynic can reply, ‘How do you know?’, or can correct the statement to read, ‘there was a decent man trying to get out, but he stopped trying long ago’. It is unfortunately true that success in politics, like success in business, is rarely achieved, at least nowadays, without doing a good many things which a Victorian would have considered shameful, and rightly so. To lie, evade, tell half-truths, mislead and tread on other people’s faces in order to win power is shameful and no attempt to rationalise what one is doing by pretending that it is in the interests of the Party, the company or the nation makes any difference. To agree to function month after month as a rubber-stamp to whatever line of action the Party leaders decide is desirable and to anaesthetise one’s own opinions and conscience in the process is equally disgraceful. But God has his revenge. A lifetime of corrupt practice shows itself on the face. In modern commerce, industry or politics few successful men escape the unmistakable signs of moral corruption on their face and in their expression. They are not beautiful or noble to look at. The Lord is not mocked.