

The headline of this article is a modified version of a rude question nobody ever really asked Abraham Lincoln’s widow after their ill-fated attendance at Ford’s Theatre production of Our American Cousin the night he was fatally shot during the play. Asking, “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” now typically is said to shift the focus from a prolonged “downer” story to happier lines of conversation.
Today, however, Principle Based Politics and many others are angry at Vladimir Putin and the evil he has perpetrated in the first three months of his war. We are going to use our version of the question to make a point about Putin’s senselessness and failure.*
*Yes, we know that Christ taught kindness, turning the other cheek, and so forth, but we were heartened recently to hear a sermon about Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” himself, getting angry at evil. The way we understood the sermon, anger can be appropriately expressed at evildoers.
Losing Like at Russian Roulette
The truth is that the Ukraine invasion has hurt almost everyone, including President Putin and his loyalists, his financial enablers, and their political collaborators in the Kremlin and its satellites. As we will discuss in the concluding section of this post, Putin’s failure stems from a complete lack of leadership principles—or at the very least definitely not following the correct leadership principles—and his government’s utter disdain for the helpful governmental principles espoused historically by America and in this blog.
Here are nine ways the war is a disaster for Mr. Putin and Russia:
Other than abject failure, that is the answer a candid Mr. Putin would have to give as to how the war has gone.
Putin’s Absent Principles
A second question evaluates how President Putin went wrong. By not believing in and following the right leadership and governmental principles, we will answer. Spoiler alert: this brief analysis is not going to go any better for Putin than the war has.
As you may recall, the top seven Leadership Principles we advocate are honesty (not demonstrated by Putin), respect (no), integrity (no), peace (no), service (no), dignity (no), and understanding (no). Frankly, Mr. Putin, you appear to possess none of these vital principles.
The Kremlin’s adherence to our Government Principles is equally nonexistent. Those principles remain transparency (not Putin), freedom and free enterprise (no), equality (no), protecting the vulnerable (no), freedom of religion and separation of church and state (no), limited government (no), and law and justice (no). Another empty scorecard for Mr. Putin’s evil autocracy.
It may not seem so to many, but Americans are fortunate to live in a place where principles are better ensconced in our national traditions. For that, we are thankful.
Written by Quentin R. Wittrock, founder of Principle Based Politics.
Look for his posts each week, as this blog will explore and promote the idea of principle in politics, both as to individual elected leaders and our federal government as an institution.
Lindel Silvertooth
Posted at 18:03h, 09 FebruaryThanks for sharing. We are so fortunate to live in this great country!