Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Law Standard versus the Honor Standard

Many Citizens these days, particularly the younger ones don't really appreciate the difference between a legal and a moral standard.

Today we see Hillary Clinton declaring proudly, "I didn't break any law!"

Can you believe it? Bragging that she didn't break the law.

Does she not understand that there is nothing sacred about the law. The law is the minimum standard that society will suffer a citizen to perform before imposing sanctions on their behavior. Laws tend to be framed in negative terms because they are difficult to define in positive terms. A person can be an absolutely "scumbag" and still keep from breaking the law.

It is important that we appreciate the difference between the Honor Standard and the Legal Standard. The framers of our Constitution understood, at the viseral level, what Honor is. In the Declaration of Independence our founding fathers pledged their lives, treasure and "Sacred Honor" to a struggle that would make the United States a free and independent nation.

We all know and understand what a law is but what does the Honor Standard mean?

To get this a person has to understand a bit about how the upper classes were educated back in the 1800s. Sure there was some Engineering being taught at the Military Academys in this country, however a big chunk of a higher education was devoted to the Liberal Arts which included Greek and Latin. Plato, a famous Greek thinker, and teacher, wrote The Republic, a political philosophy all those old timers were familiar with. In The Republic, there were three types of citizens described, bronze, silver and gold.

The bronze citizen was seen as the workers, skilled craftsmen and merchants. The silver citizens were those who's duty was to protect the people and the state. The Gold citizens were the superstars who were picked to govern the people.

The Bronze citizens were bound by the law. The silver citizens were bound by the law and a code of Honor. The golden citizens were bound by the law, an honor code and and elevated to "Moses" status.

Silver citizens were seen as Military Leaders, Educators, Politicians Judges and Religious Leaders. They were expected to protect the weak, champion justice, venerate womanhood, and insure the National Defense. Since it was near impossible to define all these lofty principles, silver citizens were often referred to as "Gentlemen." At the Military Academies a person was defined as "Honor-less" if they Lied, Cheated or Stole. Now this definition didn't really explain what honor is but rather made it possible to quantify someone who was deemed without honor. Hold that thought.

Recently a West Point Graduate and one of the Army's all time top generals resigned under a cloud. It came out that he had lied to the FBI, cheated on his wife and stole classified information which was found in the desk drawer of his home. So much for "Honor." Somehow this military Icon managed to shoot himself in the foot on all three of the measures in a sordid affair with a married woman. Now lets be clear that if anyone wants to see some good examples of honorable and selfless guardians of liberty, who exemplify silver citizenship, look no further than the military. It was a sad day for honor and a national disgrace when David Patreus resigned.

However, this incident, does point to the low state that many of our public servants have sunk. General Patreus's behavior was below even the low standard of the law, not to mention totally "Honor-less."

Now the point to all this is that "Obeying the Law" should be a "given" for any public servant and when they claim, in defense of their actions, that they "Broke no Law" it only shows that their behavior is routinely operating on the margins of criminality.