by: F.R. Duplantier

"Some historians who have chronicled the rise and fall of nations believe the chief cause of their downfall has been moral decay," reports syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, chairman of the fiscal watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. "The real test of national character, they say, is not adversity but affluence." Anderson points out that "prosperity breeds greed and envy, which undermine character."

Anderson wonders if America can "survive its affluence? Out of our historic good fortune have risen too many me-firsters," he laments, "who put personal enrichment ahead of national welfare. They have started America on the downhill track that has led to other nations' self-destruction." In an effort to avert disaster, Anderson has introduced "a powerful mechanism to attack the problem of waste, fraud, and abuse at its roots: the Pledge of Integrity." The goal of Anderson's group is to have "every member of Congress and senator, state legislator, and assemblyperson sign the Pledge of Integrity."

The Pledge reads, in part, as follows: "I will treat as a sacred trust any public funds that pass through my hands. Tax revenue does not belong to the officials who spend it but to the American people who produce it. I will not demand entitlements that I am not entitled to. Government benefits are showered upon America not as manna from heaven but as charity from the taxpayers. I will support a national effort to stop running up the national debt. It is immoral to charge our living standards and government services to our children. I will live on what I have, not on what I want. Squandering money today at the expense of tomorrow will increase the cost and multiply the misery. To reverse the American decline, I will consume less, work harder, and produce more. I will perform honest work for my wages and pay honest wages for another's work. If it is not right, I will not do it. If it is not true, I will not say it. If it is not mine, I will not take it."

Encourage your elected officials to sign Jack Anderson's "Pledge of Integrity." And, while you're at it, why not sign it yourself?

What good will that do? A bunch of signatures on an unenforceable pledge can't solve the problem of waste, fraud, and abuse in American government. No, but it's the thought that counts, and anything that gets our countrymen thinking again is bound to help. Getting significant numbers of Americans to ponder the importance of integrity in public life would certainly help. Getting them to consider truth as the controlling factor in their decisions, rather than personal or partisan advantage, would also help. Getting them to concede that the means may be just as important as the end wouldn't hurt. Nor would getting them to call things by their right names for a change (e.g., "theft" rather than "welfare"). Maybe then the American people could begin to understand, as our Founding Fathers did, that even men and women with integrity cannot be trusted to wield unchecked power.