Faithfully yours - Moral authority

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Published on Sunday, June 25, 2017

Neil Strohschein
The Neepawa Banner

As a public speaker, Ronald Reagan was hard to beat. His speeches were carefully worded. They may not have been short; many were not sweet; but they were always to the point. He did not hide behind fancy rhetoric. He did not leave his hearers guessing as to his intent. To use a modern phrase, he stood up, he spoke up and when he was done, he shut up.

So, when, as part of his first presidential campaign, he promised to invest billions of new dollars to make the US military the best in the world, everyone knew what he wanted—and in time they knew why. Reagan took aim at the Soviet Union. He called it “an evil empire.” But, he said, the United States cannot stand up to the Soviets because we do not have the military strength to do so. His plan—rearm the military, make it strong, and then, when negotiating non-aggression pacts with the Soviets, Americans would be able to negotiate from a position of strength.

Reagan’s words won him the presidency and his plan was ultimately approved by Congress. But the Soviets were not about to be bullied. They had their own national interests to protect; and no one understood that better than Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He and Reagan met on several occasions during Reagan’s presidency and ultimately, it was their personal relationship and the trust they had in each other that made disarmament treaties possible.

While I cannot, in good conscience, support some of the policies or political beliefs of either man, I must give them credit for one thing. They were both, in my view, men who possessed a great deal of moral authority. They spoke their minds and clearly articulated their positions on foreign and domestic issues. They made promises and worked as hard as they could to keep them. Their records at home, dealing with issues within their borders, gave them the moral authority to demand changes from leaders of other nations and to expect that, when bi-lateral agreements were signed, they would be kept.

That’s not the case today. Our leaders lack the moral authority to demand change from anyone; because we have failed to do at home what we want those outside our borders to do.
Many years ago, a group of religious leaders came to Jesus, bringing with them a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They demanded that she be punished according to the Law of Moses—meaning that she would be stoned to death. How did Jesus reply? “Let those who are without sin cast the first stones.” One by one, these leaders dropped their rocks and left. Not one of them had the moral authority to cast a stone at this woman; and they knew it.

Moral authority is not automatic. It must be earned—by keeping promises made, respecting the rights of others and helping those in need. Until we take significant steps to deal with poverty, homelessness, violent crime, sexual abuse, racism, prejudice and injustice at home; any concerns Canada raises internationally will fall on deaf ears.
Acquiring moral authority takes work. Governments have a role to play. But the bulk of the work will be done by people like you and me who, after earning moral authority of our own, use it to help change the lives of others.