Today's MOZEN: A Tale Told By An Idiot.

F LoBuono

We are all guided by a set of principles - or, at least we should be. We most often define this as morality. Many associate those fundamentals with religious doctrine. That's fine. However, one can certainly be governed by a set of ethics that doesn't involve some type of religious influence.

Call them what you will - morals, scruples, tenets, codes, etc. - without them, our lives would be mayhem.

This is why I find the current Administration so infuriating. Beyond the politics, in spite of the partisan bickering and the constant churn of top officials, I just might be able to tolerate, if not support, this regime if it had ANY integrity at all. As of today, I have not been able to detect even the slightest amount.

Before we get to the man in charge, let's review those nominated to key Cabinet positions: from Michael Flynn through Anthony Scaramucci to Rex Tillerson (and, others too many to list here) it has been a parade of one misanthrope after another. Mr. Trump made the campaign promise to Drain the Washington Swamp. Well, he is actually doing it - his way - by filling it with the most disreputable characters first and then firing them! It seems that if any of them had any principals at all, they were to be used to advance their own fortunes and that of their boss. If they once did have any type of moral code they seemed to have abandoned it with their appointments to the current Administration.

But, then again, they were working for a man who apparently lacks any type of moral compass himself. He is a womanizer, evidenced by the infamous Access Hollywood tapes and a host of accusations from multiple women. He mocks the disabled as we saw him attacking a reporter with a physical deformity. He makes absurd, racist statements with no evidence to back up his claims. And, he flat out LIES - constantly.

And, he does it all with a smile. No. Check that. It's more of shit-eating grin.

We count on our leaders to be people of high moral fiber, i.e. of the HIGHEST integrity. They may be flawed for, after all, aren't we all? We may even vehemently disagree with them politically. However, they must display the intangibles that, despite those differences, we ultimately respect them. It is one of the core principals of what it means to be American - to have the integrity to, despite political differences, always do the right thing. It has helped us to keep a smooth transition of power for over 240 years.

However, the mean-spirited nature of this President and those in his Administration has relegated things like morals and scruples to the back-burner. They have been replaced with a belligerent, bellicose, banal rhetoric that, for some reason, some find refreshing. I see it more as, perhaps, Shakespeare did in Macbeth:

It is a tale told by and idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.