“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”  Bucking the mainstream of sympathy for Benazir Bhutto, I’m more inclined to nominate her for a Darwin Award. How often I have wondered at the seeming cupidity of the rich and powerful, and the actions of Bhutto only deepen my sense of wonder about such things. The pope now appears in a “Popemobile,” and with things like JFK one would think anyone of prominence would know they are at risk, especially when they have powerful enemies. And in Bhutto’s case, she must have known as a woman trying for power against fanatical Muslims she was at enormous risk apart from any political considerations. But we are as unlikely to learn the truth of her assassination as we are about JFK or 9/11. Where power and wealth are concerned, the “truth” is often what the rich and powerful want it to be. And while we fully expect a nation like Pakistan with such corrupt leadership to lie as a matter of course, this is no less true of our own government.

It is happening across America, this thing of holding our breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop. But just how long can we be expected to hold our breath while politicians pander for votes while ignoring the most important issues like illegal aliens and unsecured borders threatening our very survival as a nation, without specific answers to the questions surrounding a seemingly suicidal approach to trade agreements and sustaining Muslim tyrants and others in power? It does seem we are drowning in a sea of lawlessness from the White House on down, and those parading before the cameras seem to be more interested in how their hair is combed or coiffed than the many threats, including nuclear, casting such a dark cloud over America.

How long would Israel last were it not for America; and can you imagine the gun control crowd telling Israelis, “You must give up all your weapons?” Were that to happen in fact, Israel would qualify for a Darwin Award. Some things make too much sense to even entertain the notion that any person, or nation, would do something so stupid as to result in their demise; nevertheless there is the Darwin Award with no lack of “honorees.” As it stands right now, I have cause to wonder if our own government is not leading America down this path? Most would agree there seems no lack of stupidity to be found among America’s “leaders.” And that is the most charitable view for what would seem to a rational mind a leadership intent on national suicide! How much clearer can it be, that all nations come into being and survive on the basis of heritage, culture, a common language and well defined and secure borders, that without these no nation can possibly continue to exist as a nation!

Harking back to Shakespeare’s line, you do have to wonder how any of our leaders are able to get a night’s sleep? We know the stories of those like Stalin and Hitler trying to sleep, and such stories are understandable and quite believable. When you know people are plotting to kill you, certain precautions must be taken that would be considered extreme in normal situations. But when you wear the crown, here come the extraordinary precautions. Still, history is replete with the stories of leaders that met their end by acts of stupidity; and wearing a crown does not automatically confer genius on anyone, or make them any less human when it comes to being capable of doing stupid things. As to sleeping, here comes the pharmaceutical industry to the “rescue” for our “crowned heads.” No wonder so many of them behave stupidly just as do many celebrities.

“If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” might be countered in some instances by “I’m too smart to be rich.” Wealth does hold many hazards for the wealthy; and I sometimes wonder why they don’t suffer more than they do. Many of these may die whispering “Rosebud,” but how is it so many seem to escape being robbed, kidnapped, or murdered? Why did JFK die and Reagan lived? Why Bhutto and not Bush?

We know “time and chance happeneth to all alike,” that the battle is not always to the strong or the race to the swift; but some things just do not make any sense at all. In Bhutto’s case, it would seem to be a case of terminal stupidity; but what is keeping Bush alive? Better security? I don’t think so. Surrounding yourself with courtiers and sycophants serve to deceive any Caesar, but these too often make those that wear the crown vulnerable. Still, many of them live long enough to make life miserable for their subjects. Trying to make sense of why some people that really need killing continue to escape it is no wonder I’m given to a supernatural view, that the world is Satan’s domain and the righteous continue to suffer while the wicked prosper.

Lincoln had good reason for his reluctance to claim God was on his side during the war. And anyone willing to be ruthlessly honest with themselves may ask the question of whether they are serving God or the Devil? Too often throughout history those intending good have unintentionally done great harm. This was Thoreau’s attitude toward the various men and societies of his time determined to do him “good” whether he wanted them to or not. Like me, both Emerson and Thoreau knew that no one wants power and authority over others, whether they be persons or governments, that are not seeking their own ends in the process; and no truly good person wants such power and authority over others. Which, of course, is why governments throughout history inevitably become corrupt.

We have good reason for questioning the histories written by men in many instances, there is good and sufficient reason to understand Henry Ford calling history “Bunk,” and even now we witness politicians writing their own “histories” while still alive in the hope of getting people to believe their “bunk,” hoping those in the future will believe their bunk. These pretenders should heed the words of Benjamin Franklin:

If you would not be forgotten

As soon as you are dead and rotten,

Either write things worth reading

Or do things worth the writing.

It does seem to come down to a matter of trust. Who in government do you trust? Like adultery or the betrayal of friendship, once betrayed such trust is never to be regained. And to witness the books being offered by politicians how can We the People but cringe over both the betrayal and the thought politicians can be so stupid as to think we are going to trust any of them to tell the truth? They neither write things worth reading nor do things worth the writing. And America stands on the brink; we are holding our breath waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment because of this loss of trust in a corrupt leadership that evidences no concern for anyone but themselves.