Who has been watching the watchdogs themselves?
"Who will guard the guards themselves?" quis custodiet ipsos custodes? — Juvenal, a Roman Poet circa AD 55.
Not a new question, but more relevant in 2009 than ever before.
In my Latin class, we learned the language, origins, a bit of history and how to translate Roman stories which showed us the culture of Rome. One of my favorites was Patria Nostra (Our Country) and Formica et Cicada, (The Ant and the Grasshopper.) These stories were only a few paragraphs in length, and the main exercise was to translate everything into English, including the meaning of the main idea.
At the beginning of each chapter, Roman maxims of the ancients were featured in the upper right hand corner. A favorite of mine is
ruat coelum — let the heavens fall. It means that, come what may, we need to do the right thing. The idea is that if we do not, then we will surely fall into corruption, for the standard of expectations then changes to a society’s detriment.
Rome contributed much to civility in Medicine, Law, Literature, Commerce, and other assets. Rome had its tyrants, too, didn’t it? The brutality of Rome was world renowned. Tyranny and guards played an important role in Roman life. Who watches the guards became a profound observation all too late. Perhaps not too late for us, though. That is, if the electorate would like to learn more about self-rule today from yesterday’s history.
In America, our First Amendment to our Bill Of Rights is that we have a free press because we need those of us who are willing to be watchdogs of government to avert our own slide into that kind of brutality. Journalists, editorial boards and others are given a public trust, but it works to serve America and endures only when they keep the electorate informed so that it may make its best informed choices in self-rule. In this trust, journalists are hired not to make a difference (the reason many students choose journalism), but to understand and to transmit the main idea of News. When journalists write anything but the main idea in news, they breach their trust and who does anything about it? Who watches the watchdogs themselves?
So, when the heavens do
not fall and there is little self discipline, peer pressure, ethics, or when professional integrity becomes ancient history, then it could be because no one is watching the watchdogs. No consequences.
Some citizens don’t even care. The next generation doesn’t even know.
Another dusty old saying came from Pericles some time earlier. Pericles said that even
if you don’t take an interest in politics, politics will take an interest in you.
It wasn’t Rome that made for tyrants. It was indifference of the people which always makes for tyrants in any culture, in any time, any generation.
And when the watchdogs of government join the craft and profession from among the people, when they even have to be watched to be watchdogs at all and aren’t watched sufficiently, then we have the case of not taking an interest in politics, but politics taking an interest in us. It was the beginning of soft tyranny here.
Here’s one Anonymous wrote, "Liberals hold us individually responsible for nothing, but collectively responsible for everything." Well said, Anonymous.
The Founders declared the citizens to be armed citizens always, because they knew our sovereignty would be challenged more by our servants than most anyone else. James Madison, principal author of the US Constitution, said, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
Congressman David Crockett said the same thing in a speech to Congress. Jefferson said the same thing when he said, "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
But then, indifference has its price, because "The people get the government they deserve." — Alexis de Tocqueville (What do you mean
We, Kemosabe? Ever hear of the New Media?)
When reckless journalists report that recent shootings are due to heated rhetoric of conservative hosts, or that the shooter was part of a hate group with no such factual knowledge of same, then they obviously believe more in making a difference than reporting in the public trust. Making their kind of difference, of course, is more self-indulgent than profound and just. Too many journalists abandon their post.
Unwinding the damage liberals are doing to leadership, our society, our personal safety and sovereignty in gun control, our legacy, and our health care system in their own brand of self-indulgence won’t be easy, and you can put that main idea into terms today’s generation would understand.
Attributed to Bill Harlan, "It is easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code."
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John Longenecker is author of Safe Streets In The Nationwide Concealed Carry Of Handguns. E-mail me at John at GoodForTheCountry.com See the other Gun Rights Examiners listed in the sidebar on the right for their latest editions. >
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Who has been watching the watchdogs themselves?
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