As we read the summaries below of Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons" and John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," it could help us determine our selections when we consider what values we would like for our leaders.
"A Man for All Seasons"
What is the main message in "A Man for All Seasons"? A synopsis of the play, about a king and his chancellor, highlights the importance of integrity and conscience, especially at a time when those in power discredit those values and even punish, sometimes with death, those who insist on them?
Why is the play called A Man for All Seasons?
"The title," notes Wikipedia, "reflects playwright Bolt's portrayal of More as the ultimate man of conscience, remaining true to his principles and religion under all circumstances and at all times."
In the play, King Henry VIII's Chancellor, Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), refused to agree to two of the king's wishes: to have the pope annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon because she had not produced an heir, and for refusing to accept King Henry as Head of the Church of England. The king ordered More beheaded in 1535.
Soon after, in 1600, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for proposing that the Earth travelled around the sun, rather than the sun around the Earth, and that we might not be alone in the universe; that there might be a multiplicity of universes. In 1633, Galileo was shown instruments of torture and threatened with them unless he recanted his view that the Earth travelled around the sun. He recanted.
Today we have seen politicians order evidence destroyed and justice obstructed with no adverse consequences. Other politicians, meanwhile, have been tried and impeached again and again with bogus evidence and bogus due process -- by accusers who, it turned out, had known all along that the evidence and the due process were mockeries of justice that would undoubtedly be reversed on appeal.
We have seen politicians on video clips vow one thing just a few years ago, and are now purport to hold the opposite view – whether the policies involve energy exploration, border security, higher or lower taxes, or whether one will be able to keep one's private health insurance. We have seen Secret Service protection denied to a presidential candidate whose close relatives -- two of them -- were assassinated; while Secret Service protection for other presidential candidates was coordinated so atrociously at the top -- at least twice -- that the subsequent refusal by the government to provide information has sparked speculation that the "incompetence" was actually deliberate. Also, what, please, is an "opportunity economy"? Taking your money and giving it to someone else: redistribution? Should we be confronting our adversaries, Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, or appeasing them? Should the US be using deterrence -- making sure our adversaries understand that the cost of any aggression against us or our allies would be so high, that it would be foolish of them even to think about it?
"Of Mice and Men"
What is the main point "Of Mice and Men"? According to Wikipedia, "It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California, searching for jobs during the Great Depression."
The main idea of Steinbeck's work is a statement of humanity. George has promised to look after Lenny, who is described as big and "dumb as hell." Lenny keep unwittingly killing the animals he loves by petting them too hard, then ends up murdering a woman similarly. George, rather than see his friend lynched by a mob, shoots him instead as an act of mercy.
What is the moral message "Of Mice and Men"? It is a story about integrity. "It demonstrates how important it is to keep your promises, even when it hurts."
Sometimes, when promises are kept, adversaries are successfully deterred; lower taxes brought business and manufacturing jobs back to America; regulations were cut to help small businesses; the lowest unemployment rate in nearly half a century; terrorist groups defeated; so much energy is produced that it keeps down the price of everything; and introducing sanctions and secondary sanctions -- anyone who trades with an adversary may not trade with the US -- keeps adversaries too broke to fight.
In today's America, we are repeatedly told our border is secure – but is it? Where are the 320,000 children who have gone missing and assumed to have been trafficked into sex slavery or forced labor? How many members of the Tren de Aragua gang; tens of thousands of Chinese men of military age have been entering the country, and South American gang members who are said to make the MS13 gang look like boy scouts, have stormed the border. Does anyone know where all of them are now?
"Of Mice and Men," sadly, is regularly on the banned books list put out by the American Library Association, along with Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss and Joel Chandler Harris's "Brer Rabbit" and other great American classics. It has been banned because of supposed vulgarity, racism, and its treatment of women. The challenges do not seem to go away as time goes on; even in the twenty-first century, the book is still being challenged. How much censorship and banning of information do we really want -- for fiction, medical information or politically inconvenient information -- and who can be entrusted to decide what should be censored and what should not? Is it even appropriate for the US government to be in the business of banning books to "protect" the public from deciding what it would like to read?
George in "Of Mice and Men" kept his promise and looked after Lenny. But when we were promised that we could keep our doctors and keep our healthcare, was that promise kept? When we were promised that "Iran would not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon on my watch," was that, in reality, a verbal sleight-of-hand for saying that after "my watch" -- as in the nuclear deal's sunset clauses -- would be just fine?
When we think about what we would like for our Republic, we might remember "A Man for All Seasons" and "Of Mice and Men." They are about conscience and integrity -- and that is what America is all about.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
