Eulogy for a Bureaucrat With a Conscience

[Geee]

Real Clear Politics

“When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.” —Robert Bolt, “A Man for All Seasons”

Sir Thomas More’s pronouncement above correctly states the danger to a nation when our leaders don’t follow their conscience, but it is silent on the danger when men of conscience such as More are themselves silenced.

 

A statesman died last week who did not sacrifice his conscience, and paid a price for it. His death, so far as I know, had nothing to do with his conscience, but his firing from his public duties had everything to do with it. And because he was removed instead of rewarded, the nation did edge toward chaos.

In July 2017, Rich Higgins was unceremoniously dismissed from his job at the National Security Council, forced to resign as the result of a seven-page memo he wrote describing an internal and external threat to Donald Trump’s presidency.

“This is not politics as usual but rather political warfare at an unprecedented level that is openly engaged in the direct targeting of a seated president through manipulation of the news cycle,” he wrote. “It must be recognized on its own terms so that immediate action can be taken. At its core, these campaigns run on multiple lines of effort, serve as the non-violent line of effort of a wider movement, and execute political warfare agendas that reflect cultural Marxist outcomes.