OPINION:
About 500 years ago, Pope Leo X was short of cash and needed to raise some money to complete the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica.
He devised a scheme to sell indulgences (pardons disseminated by the Church). Bands of indulgence salesmen swarmed into towns and villages, selling salvation for gold. News of their rhyming pitch resounded throughout the land: “When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!”
Deeply troubled by the nefarious enterprise, Martin Luther protested by posting 95 theses on a church door, for which the pope declared him a heretic and excommunicated him. Later he was brought before a tribunal, where he was ordered to recant, which he refused by saying, in part: “I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other.”
Consequently, he was considered an outlaw by the Holy Roman emperor and sentenced to death. Only a fake kidnapping, engineered by the Saxon Prince Frederick the Wise, saved his life. The man had monumental courage and just plain guts.
We are now experiencing a crisis for which we need someone with the same chutzpah. Exposed by the Durham report and House Republican committees, our federal government has tentacles of corruption in virtually every department, led by a presidential crime family.
Who is going to be our Martin Luther in the coming presidential election? The slate of potential Republican candidates includes many capable folks. But who is going to be able take on this tapestry of lies, deceit and mendacity?
The only one who has the guts to drain the swamp of alligators has orange hair. He’s done it before and he can do it again.
RON PHIPPS
Annapolis, Maryland
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