The Corruption Of Power

"Power corrupts" is an oft-quoted adage. Now a new term has been coined which will go into the dictionaries as the classic synonym for the corruption of political power. The term 'Watergate' will henceforth call to mind one of the greatest governmental scandals in American history which drove President Nixon from the White House and brought shame and disillusion to a great nation. No doubt the background of the crisis and the lessons to be derived from it will be debated and analysed for decades. While many would wish to forget, a sensation-seeking Press will not let be. When the anticipated memoirs of ex-President Nixon are published controversy will be rekindled and fuel added to the fire.

We refer to the subject here with some reluctance. We do so because the crisis not only exposed the relentless pressures of political intrigue but was also a modern demonstration of the frailty of human nature, and striking confirmation of the Biblical doctrine of man. This aspect of the Watergate scandal has been ably reviewed by one of the five men closest to ex-President Nixon throughout these shattering events.

In his remarkable Born Again (Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, �4.95), Charles W. Colson graphically describes his climb to the summit of U.S.A. politics. At the age of forty he was appointed Special Counsel to the President, and was the architect of the landslide re-election of Richard Nixon to the Presidency of the United States in 1972. As the votes kept piling up in Nixon's favour on election night, and victory was assured, the President warmly congratulated him, "It was your strategy", he said, "and it's a landslide". This was the fulfilment of Colson's fondest dream. But instead of the elation which victory should have brought, a strange deadness of spirit which, try as he would he could not shake off, settled over him. From that point the story moves on until at last he found peace and fulfilment by a commitment to Christ.

Born Again is a moving story with an honest ring. It makes compulsive reading. In December 1973, as the Watergate crisis mounted and the net was closing around the President and his associates, this headline appeared in a leading Washington newspaper, "Colson makes a decision for Christ". There was the usual sneer. Was this a cover-up, a gimmick? Time would tell. The events which followed brought severe challenges to the new convert. How he met them, and the prison sentence which followed, Colson tells with transparent simplicity.

Looking back on the crisis which reversed the whole course of his life, Colson makes this penetrating comment:

"Were Mr Nixon and his men more evil than any of their predecessors? That they brought the nation Watergate is a truth. But is it not only part of a larger truth - that all men have the capacity for both good and evil, and: the darker side of man's nature can always prevail in any human being? If people believe that just because one bunch of rascals are run out of office all the ills which have beset a nation are over, then the real lesson of this ugly time will have been missed - and that delusion could be the greatest tragedy of all. Watergate has raised many questions. Can humanism ever be the answer for our society? There is an almost sanctified notion that man can do anything if he puts his will to it. That was once my credo. Having seen through Watergate how vulnerable man can be, I no longer believe I am master of my own destiny. I need God

This is the witness of both Scripture and history. What Colson learned from bitter experience Paul set out in stark detail in the early chapters of his epistle to the Romans.

Colson devotes 7 chapters of Born Again to describing conditions and routine in the maximum-security prisons where he served his sentence. This is a chilling part of the record. The unbelievable squalor and the hopelessness which reduced men to "empty shells" left its mark on the former proud White House "hatchet man". Divine grace broke through and he was able gradually to surmount the distrust and hostility of his fellow-inmates and witness effectively for his Saviour.

Since his release Colson has devoted much of his time to the ministry of the gospel in federal prisons and to giving practical help to released prisoners in obtaining suitable employment.

unknown | Mar 1977
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