According to scripture, Jesus said that no man can serve two masters. He will love the one and hate the other, hold to one and despise the other. We cannot simultaneously serve God and mammon.
Time and experience have proven the truth of that statement to me many times over. However, not everyone views scripture, or anything else for that matter, through the same lens. Our understanding is often cloudy and shaped by a number of factors—culture, peers and ego—that tend to narrow our perspective so we can make it “fit in.”
Although some versions of the Bible use the narrower term “money,” the King James Version is the source of most of the scripture that lives in my mind, and I’ve given most of my thought to the more expansive word “mammon.” At any rate, truth is always truth wherever you find it. But when it is restricted or distorted to fit a personal or political agenda, it is no longer truth—it is propaganda.
Remember, Satan used scripture as propaganda to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. We are all prone to become propagandists when we allow ego to overpower honesty.
As a follower of Christ who has spent much of his life fighting corruption, I have continued to reflect on the concept of mammon and its meaning. Money, in and of itself, is morally neutral. Greed and lust are not. Mammon represents the things of this world, including political power.
I was drawn from law enforcement into the political arena because I grew tired of seeing justice perverted by forces I could not fully understand. Curiosity led me deeper until I found myself in the legislature. Sometimes, I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.
After years of confronting difficult moral dilemmas, I have come to a sobering conclusion: justice and politics are competing masters.
Lady Justice has long stood as the symbol of an ethical judicial system. She wears a blindfold to represent impartiality, holds scales to represent fairness, and carries a sword to represent truth and authority.
But if she is not strong, politics will overwhelm her. She will drop her sword, remove her blindfold and place her finger on the scales.
During my years as a criminal investigator in the Major Crimes Division of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, I worked closely with district attorneys across the state. Although they are elected officials, most showed little appetite for politics.
In countless discussions about cases, I rarely felt that their decisions were driven by anything other than the pursuit of truth and justice. Many operated under the belief that if they stayed true to those principles, politics would take care of itself.
I once believed that, too. I hope it is still true. But I have my doubts.
It has been 24 years since my time as an ABI agent. The political climate has changed, and so has my confidence in the ability of Lady Justice to withstand the pressures of politics.
Once you see something, you cannot unsee it.
With that in mind, I will cautiously weigh in on the upcoming Republican primary for attorney general.
Although I am no longer affiliated with any political party, I have no qualms about voting in the taxpayer-funded Republican primary on May 19, despite efforts by Alabama Republican Party leadership to exclude independent voters like me.
Based on what I know of the candidates and what I have heard from their campaigns, I believe Blount County District Attorney Pam Casey is the most likely to uphold the nonpartisan virtues of fairness and impartiality in the pursuit of truth, while resisting political pressure.
I do not know her personally, but I have spoken with members of law enforcement who do, and they speak of her with respect and admiration. Barring unforeseen circumstances, she has my vote.
That does not mean she will be immune to the pressures of politics. If elected, she will face the same challenges others have faced before her.
Steve Marshall was also once a district attorney, and by most accounts a capable one. Yet, after his appointment as attorney general, he did not meet my expectations. It appears, at times, that politics took precedence over justice.
I cannot say with certainty how often that occurred. Since his appointment by Governor Robert Bentley, we have had little communication, despite my role as chairman of the House Ethics and Campaign Finance Committee and my attempts to work with him on deficiencies in the law.
His distance left many questions unanswered.
I understand that Casey’s campaign is a longshot. But in her, I see the best opportunity to restore balance—to allow Lady Justice to put her blindfold back on, take her finger off the scales, and once again wield the sword of truth without regard to political consequence.
