“When you’re up, pull up the rope!” This saying seems to guide much of today’s thinking in America, primarily in the political class. How did this come about in America whose foundation was a delicate balance between individualism and community? Let me start with a story to provide some context.
A Story From My Past
I first heard this saying when I was in Vietnam in 1970 on a tour of duty with the Seabees. Our Seabee camp was part of Camp Eagle in Phu Bai in Northern I Corps. The regiment we reported to was located in Danang, south of us, about a two-hour drive along QL-1. Every month or so, I had to drive to Danang on official business because I was the Assistant Operations Officer, or the S-3A, for the Battalion. On one trip, I had the chance to play basketball during our lunch break. The basketball court was adjacent to the O Club, where we were to have lunch. Four or six officers were shooting baskets, and someone suggested we play a game of three on three or two on two. I enjoyed playing basketball, so I agreed, even if I had to play in my combat boots.
There was a Supply Corps officer on the other team who was guarding me. On one play, he fouled me deliberately to prevent me from scoring an easy layup or a jump shot. I called him out on it and asked him why he had fouled me. He looked at me and said, “When you’re up, pull up the rope!” I inferred from his words that he would do whatever he needed to do to win or to stay one up. This statement was this lieutenant’s philosophy of life in a nutshell. At the time, such a belief was utterly alien to me. But as I look around in today’s America, I see it expressed almost everywhere.
How Do We Combat This Thinking?
How do we combat this thinking, especially in our political system? I do not know, but we must try. I submit it happened incrementally as we gradually lost touch with the wisdom of the past and our roots in Western Civilization. Starting in the 1960s, we were told that morality was relative and that “if it feels good, do it.”
We see this thinking around us today in “too big to fail,” “crony capitalism,” and the men and women who stay in the Senate and the House for decades, unchallenged and unaccountable. These men and women are no longer public servants but instead have become the anointed rulers of America with too much power.
I have written in the past about voting all incumbents out. That may be the only way forward.
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