By Albert Maslar — A famous Japanese proverbial picture depicts three monkeys, in turn, covering the eyes, ears, and mouth. In 2010, former House Speaker Democrat Nancy Pelosi handed over control of the House to Republican John Boehner by symbolically handing him a much-oversized gavel, a gesture that proves to be cynically accurate as the tear-prone Boehner meekly carries the proverbial “big stick” made famous by President Theodore Roosevelt.
A fourth monkey with crossed arms has since been added, as the “Do No Evil” monkey, a dubious honor. It might have been the hallmark of Speaker Boehner, except instead of doing nothing wrong, he is simply doing nothing — as he has stifled every legitimate attempt to control spending and Obama. Boehner stays true to form by not aggressively calling for the ouster of Attorney General Eric Holder for lying to Congress about the infamous “Fast and Furious” Mexico gun-running escapade.
Now Boehner does nothing as regards the flagrant disregard for the Constitution by President Obama who arbitrarily made immigration law, the sole constitutional right of the legislature, by implementing the DREAM Act without any congressional authorization.
Self-appointed constitutional scholars and the mainstream media are indifferent and uncaring about Obama’s flagrant violations of the Constitution and the gravity of a potential constitutional crisis; instead emulating behavior typical of ostriches with their heads buried in the sand. After all, like the king, their anointed one can do no wrong.
If Obama’s overreach stands unchallenged, the expanding precedents of the presidency could reach critical levels with no constitutional restraints or separation of powers, resulting in a de facto dictatorship.
Instead of fighting, Speaker Boehner has used his big stick gavel but only to commandeer and stifle the voters’ mandate for the principles and ideals of the incoming Tea Party freshmen.
Speaker Boehner, second in line for the presidency after the vice president, cowardly ignored what he saw, heard, and said, and now ignores the fourth monkey principle to “do no evil.” Edmund Burke opined that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Especially in government, false bravado prevails amongst the “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” mentality that is nowhere to be found when push comes to shove.
And so it is with House Speaker Boehner with the over-sized gavel, who constantly caves to fight “yet another day” — a day when the deck will be stacked with a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and laws are rubber-stamped by an anybody Republican President.
Anybody can win then, but it takes a giant to win now, while holding just one and yet perhaps the most powerful branch of government. But it turns out Boehner’s big stick is made of flimsy paper mache and he proves time and again that after 21 years in the House, he has become the poster boy for the incumbent motto: “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” just like the Pennsylvania scratch-card lottery motto, “Just keep scratching” — and losing.
The Bible recounts that three servants received talents, the first two increasing what was given while the third returned the talents, saying he buried them so as not to lose them but in the process he lost himself as Jesus judged him as a “wicked slothful servant.”
The servant did nothing intrinsically evil but Jesus condemned him for not doing something with his given talents. Jesus even cursed the unproductive fig tree and it withered away.
Life is not a spectator game but must be played out to the best of one’s abilities and circumstances. Many complain when evil wins though evil is the minority. But remember Burke’s truism, the next time a horrific law passes or we blow another $1 trillion this year in new debt that evil thrives when good people do nothing. Boehner should remember it as well.
Albert Maslar is a contributing writer to the Liberty Features Syndicate.
