We look down on entertainers and promoters who have sold their souls for success. But the forces they yielded to are pressing on our souls too.

American institutions such as the free enterprise system and representative democracy were not established by people who trusted other people. They were founded by people who didn’t. That’s the point. People will not naturally seek what’s best for society. They will naturally seek what’s best for them.

They say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s only part of the truth. Power is not the only thing that corrupts. Not that we need something to corrupt us, we who are already corrupt from before our births.

Pleasure corrupts. Security corrupts. Wealth corrupts. Comfort corrupts. A man can become so hungry for food that the temptation to steal it becomes almost overwhelming. And there comes a point when the hunger becomes almost overwhelming to preserve the pleasure, security, wealth and comfort we have.

Few wealthy people can renounce their wealth. Few powerful people can renounce their power. Few comfortable people can renounce their security. What they have may be wrong and what they need to have may be right, but they don’t have the inner strength to do any different. In the West, the age of martyrdom seems to be past.

Divine miracles are more necessary than we sometimes think. When everything in you is pressing towards the status quo, when you risk losing everything if you do what’s right, only God can get you past yourself. That takes a miracle too.

My sincere apologies to Joni Mitchell for corrupting her song title, but I couldn’t resist.