Mounce: Seven Deadly Sins: Which Will Ruin Us?

The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride; Greed; Wrath; Envy; Lust; Gluttony; Sloth. Any one of them–carried to the extreme–pernicious to an individual, ruinous for the body politic.

Gluttony, especially rampant today in our government, in plain sight, predominates. The gluttony of a major authority figure leads the massive corruption occurring.     

The current cover of the New Yorker (“Soft Landing,” by Barry Blitt, May 26) illustrates the gluttony we are facing. A hefty figure, artificial tan, long red tie, fake hair, slides down an airplane shoot, chuckling and clutching a wad of money. The shoot itself is awash with currency and bitcoins. (Wish I could show you, but don’t want to risk violating copyright laws).   

The results? Riches for some; less for the rest of us. The results show up, here, in Texas. The current GOP budget would “reward Greg Abbott for MAGA border stunts” – busing of immigrants, his own, razored border wall (Russel Payne, Salon, 23 May 25). The results show up in Texas and the greater southwest.” Texas and Arizona could lose 50,000 jobs with the national administration’s suspension of (tomato) agreements with Mexico” (Rio Grande Guardian, 25 May 25). Senator Ruben Gallego, and others, are pushing back, warning of “devastation to the economy.”

Who cares? Who deplores the greed from the administration, the golden, personal airplane for the President, from Quatar? Who ignores that gluttony, on behalf of a “man who calls himself King,” but cares not for the cutting of benefits from the middle class and poor? Not the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana. He “made no effort to hide his disdain for millions of Medicaid recipients during an appearance on CNN.” Instead, he called them “freeloaders” (Omar Faruque, WGTC, 25 May 25).

And the real freeloader, sliding down the chute from a golden plane? Does he care? His “Memorial Day Post” was not about Veterans, which I am, among thousands, but an angry screed against the opposition party he calls “scum!”

So, we must now reckon with “Wrath” among the Seven Deadly Sins. Has it reached a fever pitch within the mind of that gilded figure who possesses it (or is possessed by it)? Is its explosive nature sufficient to physically diminish his gluttonous ambitions? How long must we endure them? 

Do enough of us realize the implications of the nauseous scenario playing right in front of us? Can the courts, the religious communities, and/or others, find the strength, the strategy to oppose? 

If you live in the Rio Grande Valley, you may be asking: “where is the local connection for this story?” The connection, I submit, is you, your mind, your memory, your conscience, your sense of fairness. You might recall the horror Republicans expressed over Hillary Clinton’s lesser financial dealings. Compare them to the massive fraud and corruption now facing us.

(While you are at it, In fairness, you might also recall the gasps, the clutching of pearls over President Obama’s tan suit. You can compare that with the current president, highly inappropriate political party baseball cap on his head, yes, at a formal commencement for West Point graduates! His appearance included him chuckling to the assembled, puzzled cadets about “trophy wives” – of course, those of others, not his own). 

Or, perhaps another of the Seven Sins – that of envy – keeps you from judging him? Keeps you from joining the growing resistance against his corruption? You envy his wealth? You admire his ethics, or lack of them? You would do the same? I hope not, but it’s possible. 

But I prefer to picture the reader as one of the “good guys.” I take solace in the hope of you and thousands more, joining in the demand to end corruption, to take back our Democracy.    

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by writer Dr. Gary Joe Mounce, a professor emeritus (political science) at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He can be reached by email via: gjmounce@gmail.com.

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