The Current State of Affairs

Another blogger posted a link to an editorial by Peggy Noonan discussing the current state of national affairs and the internal challenges facing our society and its government.

The point of the editorial struck a chord with me and I posted this response which I would like to share here:

In many ways she is on point as far as the precarious spot in which our society finds itself right now. I am not sure we have not been here before, in a different era and under different circumstances, but each time we reach here we face a real challenge. The question is -- what path will we take?

Today's headlines are announcing the pending indictment of a senior White House official and the media is speculating it is the Vice President's Chief of Staff. Time will shortly tell. In the meantime, I cannot help but think of the recent episode of the popular television, "West Wing."

The hypothetical posed in the storyline of "West Wing" is similar to the real life episode being played out today in the public arena. But since I have been following the detail of the real life episode less closely (perhaps than I should be), I would like to pose my questions in relation to the related hypothetical:

What is it about human nature that enables us and ultimately allows us "to go there"?

What strikes me most about the alleged real life episode is how the leaked information potentially put so many real lives at risk.

So a final question for the moment:

And at what cost?