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Morality in Government:

A Worldwide Crisis

What's at the heart and core of governmental problems? More important, what can we do about them?

by Melvin Rhodes

Recent events in Pakistan have highlighted a worsening problem that affects many countries around the world.
It is difficult for people living in an affluent Western democracy to understand how people thousands of miles away can want their democratic government overthrown and replaced by military rule. Yet that's exactly what happened in recent months in Pakistan. It was a phenomenon my wife and I experienced in several African countries in the 1970s and '80s. Yet the fundamental problem of morality in government is far from confined to these areas.
The sad fact is that democratically elected governments around the globe can become casualties, often as a result of corruption permeating their societies. The checks and balances we take for granted in the West either are lacking or don't always work in other areas of the world. Of course, if we are honest with ourselves, they don't always work in our own countries either. The entire European Commission of the 15 democratic nations of the European Union had to resign not long ago after disclosures of multiple corrupt practices.
Corruption has always been a major problem, and no governmental system can fully protect its people from it. What leaders often fail to realize is that corruption in any system puts the entire system at risk, that the common people can take only so much before they overthrow those who exploit and abuse them.
What is the primary cause of corruption? It's simple: greed. Sometimes it's a lust for power. Whereas government should be oriented toward the benefit of those who are governed, often the emphasis is on self-service, with the leaders helping themselves first.
The Bible tells us "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). More than 3,000 years ago, when the Israelites rejected God's rule and wanted a king so they could be like the other nations around them, God warned them what that would mean. Through the prophet Samuel He gave them notice that they would have no end to the increased burdens the king would place on the people in the form of confiscatory taxation and wasteful, excessive government spending (1 Samuel 8:11-18). This has certainly been the case in recent times regardless of the form of government.

The corruption cycle

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn26/moralitycrisis.htm