The human
being is a very complicated contraption and that they are not good or bad but
are good and bad and the good comes out of the bad and the bad out of the good,
and the devil take the hindmost
-Robert Penn
Warren, All the Kings Men
As the trial of John Edwards begins this week in North
Carolina, one cannot help but think back to the greatest American political
novel, All the Kings Men by Robert
Penn Warren. It tells the story of Willie Stark, a backwoods lawyer and
salesperson who begins his political career fighting for a corrupt system that
has resulted in the deaths of schoolchildren.
Stark goes on to become Governor, a presidential candidate and de facto
dictator. He accomplishes all of this by running against the seated interests
of his state and by promising the "others" of his state a better future. Likewise,
John Edwards, the son of a millworker, through sheer talent and intelligence
became a famous lawyer, senator, and presidential candidate. He too spoke of
two Americas much like the fictional Stark and seemed destined to be President
by rallying those left behind.
But, as Warren wrote, human beings are complicated and
all good comes with bad. Edwards through his own faults, a victim of his own
ambition, actions and malfeasances destroyed himself. For someone who
campaigned against those with power, he fixated on obtaining it and in turn
acted like those he previously criticized. Much like Stark, he betrayed his
closest supporters including his wife and family. While Stark's downfall is the
makings of an exceptional novel, Edwards' fall from grace is all too real with overarching
implications that stretch beyond the grief imparted upon his family.
One of the central themes of Edwards' two presidential
and senatorial campaigns was creating a national movement to combat poverty - a
cause near and dear to the son of a mill-worker. As he wrote in his book Ending Poverty in America,
The public debate on poverty policies is stuck in a rut.
One side downplays the importance of strong families and personal
responsibility. The other side is driven by a deep skepticism of what
government can accomplish. Both sides are right, and both sides are wrong:
greater government efforts and greater personal responsibility are both
necessary.
This is because forty years after the War on Poverty and
fifty years after Michael Huffington's The
Other America, 15 percent of Americans still live below the poverty line
with 2.6 million people falling below in 2011. The income inequality between
the richest and poorest is growing and median household income fell last year
to 1996 levels. However, the focus of politicians, on both sides, remains
trained on "the middle class." From an economic perspective, the middle class
are essential for a recovering economy, but shouldn't reducing poverty be an essential
ethical concern? With numbers as horrific as these which politician steps into
this gap created by Edwards' downfall? No one.
The trial of John Edwards will
certainly fascinate the news media for the next several weeks. The story of a golden
boy turned outcast who is left to pick up the shattered fragments of a promise
unfulfilled seems almost made for headlines. The real tragedy is the loss of a
poverty crusader. A national political figure who started a campaign in the
lower ninth ward of New Orleans and spoke of the hardships not just of the middle-class,
who actually vote, but of those even less blessed. As the media absorbs enough
sex, money, betrayal and ambition for two Greek tragedies perhaps it could find
some time to step back and examine who is stepping forth to combat poverty, so
that in this situation the devil may not take the hindmost.
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