The Lesser Of Two Evils

The lesser of two evils is evil. 

It presents us with an impossible choice, a choice in which the only moral action can be to refuse to choose.

I've been thinking about this recently because of a recent election in Snohomish County in which both candidates weren't just bad, they were both crooks.  I know them both, they both had tremendous potential before they destroyed their own lives, but I guess that has become irrelevant at this point.

Alas, as always happens in such situations, one of the candidates won and assumed office, the only good news in his case is that as his crookedness continued to be exposed he was eventually forced to resign.

The loosing candidate, also a crook, was running for a new office while still holding on to his former position.  He too was forced to resign from elective office when more of his misdeeds were exposed.

Both men sought Snohomish County's highest-ranking position, both won the support of their respective political parties despite the fact that in both of their cases, their improper activities were exposed prior to the election, and both remain under investigation.  Hopefully justice will be done and a steep fine or jail time will be in each of their futures.

We do not discuss partisan politics as Freemasons.  We do however discuss morality and justice as Freemasons, and from time to time, as in this instance, morality and justice are the overriding concerns in an election, not partisanship.

When it comes down to it we are the oldest, largest, richest, and best organized body of men in the world.  Huge lobbying groups from the left and the right, from the WEA to the NRA are dwarfed in comparison to us when it comes to sheer potential power.

The situation in Snohomish County recently was quite frankly intolerable.  It was truly a choice between two evils, two crooks, and no matter how one voted or who won, one would be governed by evil, governed by a crook.

In my view, we, as Masons, must again learn how to use our vast inherent power to prevent such situations from happening.  Learn how to force those who are demonstrated to be crooks out of an election.  The parties clearly will no do so and we clearly have the raw power to do so, if only we were to learn how to use it.

Washington, Franklyn, and all our other Masonic Founding Fathers used their power to destroy an entire government, and replace it with one of their own design.  Surely we, the Masons of the 21st century can at least figure out how to keep proven crooks out of high political office.

It is I think time for us, as Masons, to dream big dreams and make big plans once again.