Integrity…..it is a combination of words…..integritas and integer. It refers to the putting on of armor, of building completeness, a wholeness, a wholeness of character. It is something that builds in us over time and is woven into the very fabric of our lives and our souls. Just as was true in the days of imperial Rome, you either walk in your integrity daily, or you take off the armor of your integer and leave your heart and soul open to attack.
And the significant point here is that no one can take your integrity away from you. Only you can give it away.
So, why do I spend so much time on this point. Because it is crucial to who we are, what we stand for and how we lead others. And I believe that every student at every institution, from kindergarten through university, needs to learn these principles and to have them reinforced in every class until he or she graduates. They are, sadly, concepts no longer taught in our schools and they are issues not committed to in corporations and government and that is very dangerous for us as a people and as a nation. As an example, the much publicized lightning rod Alexander Ocascio Cortez (AOC) was caught in a bold faced lie saying she was in danger of her life in the unfortunate riot that occurred in our Nation’s Capital on January 6, 2021. She was actually nowhere near the event, although she claimed that she feared for her life. She even went on to suggest that a Senator, Ted Cruz resign because he was “responsible for her nearly being murdered” Lying and exaggeration are words that do not even begin to do justice to this kind of hyperbole.
How many times did we hear President Joe Biden say “I am not against fracking” and “I have no intention of doing away with fracking” only to find that one of the very first things he did as President is to halt fracking on Federal land, halt construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and halt oil exploration. With the stroke of his pen he has imperiled America’s energy independence which took us decades to achieve and made us once again dependent on foreign energy…at greater cost and much greater risk in a world sitting on a powder keg…the cost of which will ultimately be borne by the American consumer. In California today gasoline at the pump is over $6.40 per gallon and on the East Coast it is well hovering around $4.19 per gallon and rising fast. You see, pipelines are a cost effective and safe way to deliver oil to refineries. Now, oil from Alberta, CA must be transported via rail or truck driving up costs three and four fold while at the same time increasing by several folds the risk of accidents and oil spills.
These are not good principles of leadership nor are they reflective of character and integrity. In a fleeting moment, President Biden stopped the construction of the Southern Border Wall which has served to significantly control the flow of illegal aliens into the U.S. and once again, opened our doors to caravans of migrants from Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, as well as other nations who seek to harm us, heading for our southern border….in the middle of a pandemic! Equally, we have opened wide the flow of dangerous illegal drugs like fentanyl which is responsible for over 100,000 overdose deaths of young Americans last year alone. Just the other day, Borer patrol agents seized over 90,000 pills made the look like children’ candy each containing enough fentanyl to kill. We also know the people entering our country through our southern border are not vaccinated and many have Covid and probably the Delta Variant, yet they are being transported clandestinely to cities and towns in middle America, put up in hotels, fed and provided health care and cell phones by the Biden Administration all at U.S. taxpayer expense. Is this what we should be doing as a nation, or is the objective to import more illegals who might one day vote for democrats? We are on a pace to absorb 5.0 million illegal aliens into our nation by the end of the year….and that is in addition to the 1.0 million who come to America legally each and every year!. The cost to us will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.. How does this help America or American citizens?
In the blink of an eye Biden authorized the implementation of a $15 minimum wage…at a time when small businesses are struggling to keep open their businesses and to survive. What are we to assume when a man who professes to be a devout Roman Catholic supports abortion? Mr. Biden made the unforced unilateral decision to reverse the Mexico City Policy Ban on prohibiting the use of taxpayer funding of foreign abortion providers. His voluntary action on this matter is unconscionable in light of his Catholic Faith and will now subsidize, again at U.S. taxpayer expense, the killing of unborn children beyond our borders.
Just today we are lead to believe that Joe Biden is about to use his executive powers to “forgive a significant portion of student loan debt”. Such action will undoubtedly increase inflation but let us be clear about something. This “student loan forgiveness” is not debt forgiveness. Their debt is not being forgiven; rather it is being transferred to the National Debt. In other words, John Q Public….you and I….are being saddled with the debt of students who borrowed money to get their college degrees and who find themselves starting their careers with a mountain of debt and feel this is “unfair”.
I don’t remember agreeing to pay off someone else’s loan obligations. Do you?
All of these actions and others are not only detrimental to our economy but are reflective of a leadership without character, integrity and a moral compass. And I have not yet commented on the dark cloud that surrounds Mr. Biden’s dealings in the Ukraine and Communist China with his son Hunter Biden, a story that eventually will come to the surface. And while I am reluctant to bring up the past, the fact that Mr. Biden lied to the American people is not news…he has done this time and time again (plagiarism, Vietnam, Benghazi, Civil Rights). The man lacks character and integrity but he is now in a position of leadership and in control of the nuclear codes. It is, at once, sad and terrifying..
This is not the stuff of good leaders nor is it the stuff of people of character and integrity.
