Pardon me, but I believe my values are about to show.

I was raised with values displayed on the TV shows of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Leave it to Beaver, Make Room for Daddy, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, The Donna Reed Show, and others all showed imperfect families who usually managed to get it right by the end of the show, and always with a laugh or two thrown in along the way.

I was raised to respect those in our country’s uniform, that I could always go to a policeman for help, to put my hand over my heart when the National Anthem is played or sung, and to remove my hat in the presence of a lady or when I entered a building. God forbid that I should wear a hat to the supper table, as the less civilized members of our society do nowdays. My mother most likely would have taken my head off along with the hat.

I don’t remember ever being taught a lesson, hearing a lecture, or reading a book on civic duty, but somewhere along the line — probably by watching the examples of adults — I picked up the strange notion of service to my fellow citizens. I came to believe that jury duty was to be appreciated, because not every country has trials where ones peers determine the fate of the accused. I believed that public service was a calling just short of the magnitude of being called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That being said, imagine how flabbergasted I was to read the views of Madeline Albright, former President Clinton’s (man, I love saying that!) Secretary of State:

Albright’s definition of fun has more to do with service than revelry.

“My kids have always said, ‘Mom, you’re not laid-back, you’re laid-forward,’” Albright told the crowd. “I am somebody who finds a lot of fun in the possibility of being able to make decisions that have an effect on Americans, on our foreign policies and in trying to solve problems.”

Note that last sentence if you would. “Finding a lot of fun in the possibility of being able to make decisions that have an effect on Americans” is a phrase that absolutely chills me to the bone. No “weighty decisions” for Madame Albright. No worrying about the effects of her decisions on the immediate lives of others, or on the fate of our country now or down through history. As long as she’s having “fun”, then everything’s copacetic with the person who, by the way, would just happen to have been fourth lin line to succeed the President in the even of a disaster had she not had the ill-luck of not being a natural born citizen (those in line to succeed the President must also meet the Constitutional requirements to hold that office).

Her comments appeared in the Yale Daily News, Yale’s college daily, in an article entitled “Albright lectures on public service“.

Public service work can be more glamorous than people often expect, Albright said.

“Most lectures about public service … quote Mother Theresa and urge people to join the Peace Corps, that personally ambitious people need not apply,” she said. “My message to you this afternoon is a little bit different. I urge you to see public service as a means of self-fulfillment and not self-denial.”

Her former boss sure didn’t show any self-denial when Monica Lewinsky offered her own personal brand of fulfillment, so I suppose one can presume that they were singing off the same page. Is she even thinking about what she’s saying here? When push comes to shove and the country’s future is at stake, who would you rather have leading the way, someone who sees the heavy duty of service and ponders decisions thoughtfully, or someone who “finds a lot of fun in the possibility of being able to make decisions that have an effect on Americans” and sees public service “as a means of self-fulfillment and not self-denial”?

I’d have to say that I’ve been pretty much vindicated on my assessment of liberals using Madeline Albright as an example. In my “About Me” post, I presumed to tag liberals (OK, most liberals) as having Narcissistic Personality Disorder. This information doesn’t do anything to dissuade me from my initial assessment.

I pray that God will deliver us from public “servants” of Ms. Albright’s ilk. It cannot long remain a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” when those seeking personal fulfillment rather than duty to country are standing post in high positions.

Technorati: Madeline Albright, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Liberals

TD