Charles Colson went to jail for his Watergate crimes, then found God and has devoted his life ever since - creditably -to helping prisoners reform.
Last night, however, I heard Colson say that Mark Felt should have reported what he knew about the Watergate cover-up to his superior in the chain of command, not abet Woodward and Bernstein.
What a great reminder that our thinking about politics and civics and personal; responsibility rests on deeper structures within our brains, like hierarchy. Colson, it is clear, is not all that aware of what lies beneath his thinking.
Consider the likely consequences if Felt had reported what he knew to his boss, FBI Director C. Boyden Gray, Richard Nixon’s pawn.
Gray probably would have told his patron, who was the guy in charge of the original crimes and the cover-up.
Most of us, most of the time, assume hierarchy. No matter that obeying the dictates of the ladder can put us in opposition to truth, justice and the American Way.
So we fail to draw a horizontal line across our institutions. We say "military," as if there were not huge differences between the Generals and noncoms. The Church, ignoring the abyss between Bishops and parishioners. The corporation, as if the CEO and folks in the mail room shared interests and values and rewards and security.
Ignoring the fundamental construct of hierarchy makes it easier to think and think badly.
PS The Colson comment was positioned alongside excerpts from taped interviews with Bob Novak and G. Gordon Liddy on last night’s Daily Show on Comedy Central. This permitted Jon Stewart to note the quality of Felt’s critics – two criminals and a slimy news hack – and conclude that Felt did well.
Stewart and fellow conspirators continue to serve the public interest.