Editorial July 2, 1932 Issue

What of Our Politics?

Duncan Sinclair

Politics —the science and art of government—may be said to play a part in the life of every member of a civilized state. For who among intelligent, well-meaning people has not the interests of his fellow men at heart, as well as his own just interests? But politics, as everyone knows, is often a very questionable affair; and this, because many of those who have actively to do with it are not of high moral or spiritual caliber. The character of men will be reflected in their work. If, then, that character be lacking in the qualities of honesty, truthfulness, uprightness, and the like nothing is surer than that the work accomplished will be deficient in that which makes for human well-being and human advancement.

When we think of politics, then, we are forced to admit that its quality is as variable as the condition of the thought of those who take part in it. What are the aims and methods of men and women with regard to government? As we know the nature of these aims and methods, we can tell the quality of the resultant politics. Is the politician desirous that the intellectual, moral, and spiritual level of the people should be progressively raised, or is he content that it should remain as it is, or even that it should fall? Or is he indifferent to human progress? What is his attitude towards crime and the criminal? Is he whole-heartedly on the side of the law-abiding, and does he see the wisdom of seeking the enactment of better laws through constitutional procedure? The answers to questions such as these will enable one readily to determine where the politician stands in dependableness.

Now, however it may be with many, it certainly is possible to get a basis for political activity which will ensure righteousness in government. When Mrs. Eddy was asked what were her politics, she replied (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 276), "I have none, in reality, other than to help support a righteous government; to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself." There, in a single sentence, we have the foundation for right political activity. It is that we should love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves—even as Christ Jesus taught his followers of all time. Could we possibly find a better basis for the making of just laws than that, or for the administration of all such laws? If every politician, active in the service of state or nation, was of the type just indicated, might we not be certain that the laws he had a hand in enacting would bring only the blessing of good to all who lived under them?

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